


Sing For The Moment

by Dystopia744



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Kiseki no Sedai - Freeform, M/M, Multi, generation of miracles - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-03-22
Updated: 2014-05-08
Packaged: 2018-01-16 14:54:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 34,234
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1351546
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dystopia744/pseuds/Dystopia744
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kuroko no Basuke musical AU - Kise Ryouta is an 18 year old model, living a life with a steady tempo that had been boring him. However, that was only until his friend takes him to a concert for the most famous musical sensation in the entire country, Miragen.</p><p>Disclaimer: I don't own any of the KnB characters and I claim no right to them, they belong to their creator/mangaka/animators.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Summer concert

**Author's Note:**

> Alright, so this is my first chaptered fic for the KnB Fandom. I wanted to try something new with this, so it features some experimentation with musical genres. Alot of the aspects of the original KnB story are ofcourse altered since it's an AU. I hope you enjoy it!

Nightlife was definitely a sight to behold, especially when one lived in a city. The streets were buzzing with sounds of tires skidding against the concrete, feet shuffling on the pavement, and words emanating from various mouths in different volumes and tones. It was almost overwhelming to take it all in, to observe and absorb the essence of life that travelled in the atmosphere after the sun had set off to the other side of the world and left the moon in charge.

Ofcourse, these thoughts only drifted through Kise Ryouta's mind simply because he was bored. The young blond stood just outside the exit of a subway station, leaning against a streetlight pole with his blue-sleeved arms crossed over his chest. The hem of his unbuttoned cardigan met the waistline of his zebra print pants. Today's photo-shoot had run a little later than intended, so he didn't have time to change into a more casual attire before hurrying to his destination.

Not that it would have mattered. In hindsight, the model figured he would have probably had time to shower, change and maybe even grab a quick snack. There was barely any exaggeration about it too, his friend was ridiculously late. Glancing at his silver-crusted watch, worry began to gnaw at the back of his mind and he thought maybe he should call his friend and check on him.

However, he didn't get the opportunity to do so as a loud "Kise-chan!" broke through the noise of the crowd around him. He looked up to find Takao waving at him from a few feet away, standing by a cab and gesturing for Kise to come over. The blond detached himself from the pole and took a quick look around his surroundings then made his way towards the cab.

"What took you so long?" He asked, sliding into the backseat of the cab after Kazunari had already claimed shotgun and closing the door behind him.

"Ah, I couldn't find our tickets!" His shorter black-haired friend responded, shaking his head and shifting in his seat to face Kise as the driver took off. "I looked everywhere, but I couldn't find them, which was weird 'cause I usually spot stuff pretty easily. Anyways, I have them!"

Takao produced two rectangular pieces of dark blue papers in his hand, grinning as he waved them infront of Kise's face for the other to see.

"Neh, I got it, I got it," Kise said as his friend nearly shoved the tickets in his eyes, knowing that Takao was doing that on purpose. He let out a light laugh, slapping his friend's hand away.

Takao joined in on Kise's laugh, retracting his arm back and settling properly into his seat as he could notice the driver getting irked out of the corner of his eyes.

"Good, you should revel in the glory that is those tickets; you have no idea how lucky it was to finally manage to get them."

"They're just concert tickets, what's the big deal about that?" Kise asked as the cab came to a stop.

"That's as far as I can go, the street is closed off for some event," The driver spoke before Takao had a chance to reply, and the latter nodded.

"Alright, thank you," he took out his wallet and handed the driver his fare, getting out of the car. Kise politely thanked the cab driver as well as he followed Takao out. The two boys stood on the curb, or what they presumed was the curb. It was impossible to tell exactly what was beneath their feet due to the fact that entire area was packed to maximum capacity.

Kise didn't have time to ask Takao about their destination when the crowds began moving, and thus he and his friend were involuntarily pushed along.

"What's going on here? Why is it so crowded?" Kise inquired in surprise, sticking to Takao's side in fear of getting lost among the masses since he had no idea where they were.

"Because it's a rare occurrence," The shorter male raised his voice so it'd be heard over the crowd's chatter, "Miragen are all performing tonight!"

"Miragen?" Kise raised a perfectly shaped blonde eyebrow, glancing sideways at Takao, "What's that?"

"Are you serious?! Where the hell do you live?" His friend's tone was incredulous, "How do you work for the media and not know about the biggest musical sensation in the entire nation?"

"Uh, I don't work for the media, I'm a model, that's fashion not music-"

"That's not an excuse, I know for a fact you go online 'cause that's where we met, so you must have came across mentions of them."

Kise shook his head, "No, not really. I never focused much on music news."

"You've been missing out, no, missing out is an understatement," Takao replied, stopping as they reached the entrance and handing their tickets to the door-man. "Lucky for you, that's about to change."

\- 

Kise had to admit one thing, he was definitely wrong about the crowd before. Outside had been one thing, inside the arena was a whole different story. Their seats were in the 7th or 8th row, oriented towards the middle so that they were directly overlooking the stage area.

The lights had been dimming gradually for the past 20 minutes, and Takao was practically squirming next to Kise. His leg was shaking nervously, his hands interlocked together as he tapped his thumb against the back of his palm repeatedly.

"So, listen up so you're not completely ignorant," Takao shifted in his seat, "Miragen has no specific genre, that's what makes them stand out. They're their own thing. The band is made up of five members. Akashi Seijuuro, he plays keyboard and he's the one who mainly calls the shots media-wise. Murasakibara Atsushi, the drummer, his beats are sick."

A grin cut through the black-haired male's features, his gaze turned to the still-empty stage area. "Midorima Shintarou, the guitarist. He never misses a chord, his style has no flaws."

Kise noticed a glint in his friend's eyes as the other stared off into the distance in a near dream-like state.

"Um, where was I? Yeah," Takao cleared his throat, "Kuroko Tetsuya, he's the back-up guitarist. Most of the time, you can't even see him on stage. He's like a phantom, but you can hear his chords in the music. They sort of bring the whole thing together. I can't really explain it, but you'll see it for yourself. The last member would be Aomine Daiki."

"Let me guess," Kise interrupted, "The singer?"

"Not exactly," Takao started, but never managed to finish as the lights entirely went out. He unclasped his hands and was suddenly on his feet, nudging Kise so that he would get up as well.

"Come on, they're starting!"

The loud talking, laughing and yelling sounds seized all at once. It felt as if everyone had held their breath at the same time. Not a single person remained seated as far as the silhouettes that Kise could see. The weight of the collective anticipation of thousands was almost tangible, and Kise couldn't help but feel a hint of excitement spark within him despite the fact that he didn't know anything about the band.

A drum beat echoed through the arena, followed by two percussion beats. The silence continued to hover over the entire place, and Takao gripped Kise's shoulder. "Oh my God, dude," he muttered, exerting a strain on his voice to keep it low, "Oh my God."

A strong flare of light hit Kise's golden eyes and he involuntarily closed his eyes, blinking a few times so that his vision could properly transition from the darkness to light.

There were lights fixed up in the floor of the arena around the stage, constantly flashing various hues.

But that wasn't what caused Kise's jaw to drop. Upon the stage stood the members of the Miragen, and they were an enthralling sight. The crowd seemed to scream in unison as their eyes landed on the band, and Takao jumped up beside him, his hand clenched into a fist and his arm held in the air as he cheered.

He couldn't make out the faces of the members, but he could distinctly see their bright hair colors that contrasted with their plain black attire. The red-haired one pressed the keys, producing a low melody that seemed to ring through Kise's ears. It filled him with a sudden sense of calmness, and it appeared to have the same effect on the rest of the crowd as their screams died down.

The music started, and Kise was blown away. The keyboard, the guitar, and the drums blended together to produce a steady harmonious beat and he felt like he could simply sit and listen to this for hours.

That was, until a voice blasted through the speakers. It had a deep and strong pitch, and Kise could hear a few squeals from those around him.

His eyes immediately focused on the person standing by the mic. A tanned, well-built figure with striking blue hair appeared to be dominating the stage. There was no spotlight directly aimed above him, but Kise's mind automatically blocked out all else in the arena and solely focused on the singer.

Who, indeed like Takao said, wasn't a singer. As his words started to flow, the blond realized that he was rapping. The lyrics streamed into Kise's ears, the rapper's voice vibrated within his veins and soon enough his heartbeat felt as if it was in sync with Aomine Daiki's every word, every breath and every pause.

The echo of the beat grew lower, and Aomine held the mic in his hand, disconnecting it from the stand. He stepped to the front center of the stage, looking up at the crowds. His hands created gestures in time with his words as he fell into the last verse of the first song.

"They scour the scenes looking for a chance to retaliate,  
Their eyes full of misdirected anger and pure hate.  
Their intention is to bend the will of their fate,  
And cross to the other side through this iron gate.  
But here we stand on the inside with crowns of steel,  
Because what we create defines what's real;  
They talk like they're made of metallic bones,  
But their feet can't even reach the pedal.  
Our music is a volcano forged throne,  
Their music is a fake bronze medal."

Once the blue-haired man dropped his arm back to his side, the audience went ballistic as the beat returned to full-volume.

Kise was mesmerized, his widened eyes glued to the rapper that moved as if he were a brewing tornado taking the entire arena by a rabid storm.

In all his years, he has never seen someone look so alive. Aomine's rapping didn't adhere to the beat traditionally, or so Kise assumed since he didn't really listen to rap a lot before. Still, the music was empowering and levitating. Before he realized it, Kise was jumping along with the masses, screaming his lungs out at intervals and getting worked up over the lyrics.

By the time the concert came to a close, the model had run out of steam. He was covered in a thin layer of sweat, his throat burned as a result of abusing his vocal chords. Just like the beginning of the concert, the lights flickered out and left the fans in complete darkness. A couple of moments after, the overhead fluorescent lights returned and Miragen were gone.

Takao was still restless after the concert, but he flopped down on the seat to catch his breath. "That was so fucking epic," he coughed, his voice sounded scratched as he was singing along the entire time.

"I know, I KNOW," An idiotic grin was plastered across Kise's features, "That was-I'm just-"

Takao smirked, "I know, I'm the greatest friend in the world."

The blond laughed, helping his friend up so that they could be ushered outside along with the rest of the masses.

"Where did they go?" Kise asked once they stepped outside, taking in deep lungfulls of the partially humid summer air. "The band I mean."

"That happens everytime, they don't stick around or sign autographs or take pictures or anything of that sort. They just appear out of nowhere and disappear just as quickly, it's part of what makes them awesome."

"Ah." Unlike his usual habit, Kise didn't babble on or keep up the conversation. He was exhausted, but moreover, his mind was 100% preoccupied by the sight he had witnessed.

He barely noted that Takao had finally managed to hail a cab, and had gotten quietly into the backseat of it. Kise leaned his head back; the beat never stopped blaring in his inner mind as all the songs that were performed tonight replayed over and over again.

Before he could even realize it, he had taken out his phone from his pocket and hastily typed two words in the search bar.

'Aomine Daiki.'


	2. Encounter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So hey! Thank you for taking the time to read this. This is a fairly quick update since I was making use of the two free days I had, but I'm not sure about the pace of updating from now on. I hope you enjoy it!

"You're an absolute idiot." 

Midorima Shintarou stood in the middle of a large living room, his arms crossed over his chest and his eyebrows brought together in a clear sign of annoyance. Sprawled across the couch infront of him was the cause of said annoyance who was also the current target of his intense green-eyed glare. 

"Hah? Why?" Aomine didn't look up from the magazine that lay opened in his lap; blue eyes focused on the pictures of an attractive young woman in colorful swimming suits were spread out over the pages. 

"You were supposed to be in class yesterday, it was your first day in college you know," Midorima retorted, adjusting his glasses over the bridge of his nose. 

"I did go," The blue-haired male shifted so that he had one leg crossed over the others in order to provide better balance for the magazine, lazily reaching out to flip the page. 

"Sneaking away and sleeping all day on the roof doesn't count as going, Aomine-kun." A voice sounded from the corner of the room where Kuroko Tetsuya sat on the floor, his guitar supported against his thigh as his fingers grazed the chords. 

"Shut up, Tetsu," Aomine closed the magazine and sat up, scratching the nape of his neck as he frowned. "Why are you all on my case anyways? Why the hell do I even have to go to college? We already have a job." 

"Music is not a job, music is a hobby and a career, but it's not a job," Midorima corrected, taking a seat on a chair close to the couch. "Besides, that isn't the point. The point is that it's necessary to get an education, regardless of your profession. You can't simply be an ignorant member of society because you're talented in one specific area." 

The rapper's eyebrow arched, finally meeting Midorima's gaze. "Ignorant member of society? Name one person that can utilize language like I do. Scratch that, name one person that even knows the amount of vocabulary that I know."

Murasakibara, who up until this moment was silently pre-occupied with the pocky sticks he had been consuming for the past half-hour, let out a loud sigh. "Mine-chin, Aka-chin will kill you if he found out you skipped." 

At the mention of Akashi, a chill travelled across Aomine's skin. The candy idiot was right, Akashi would definitely not let this slide easily. Especially not after he had emphasized the importance of Aomine attending college. Even though he was opposed to the idea from the very start, Akashi's decisions were non-negotiable. 

"Fine, fine, I'll go again or whatever." He grabbed the magazine and stood up, stretching his arms behind his back. "I'mma go take a nap somewhere." 

"You'll be going again tomorrow," Midorima looked up at Aomine. 

"Tomorrow we have practice, Akashi wouldn't want me to skip that." 

"Akashi already adjusted your schedule so you can attend classes then join us in the studio." 

Aomine cursed under his breath, running his hand through the short blue strands of his hair in frustration. Why the fuck were they so insistent about this? What was the big deal about education anyways?

"Oh, speaking of practice, I invited a friend," Kuroko added, speaking to no one in particular. 

"A friend? Kuro-chin has friends?" Murasakibara asked around a mouthful of the chocolate covered biscuits. 

The phantom member chose to ignore the purple-haired boy's comment, and continued to address no one as his eyes remained fixed on the guitar strings. "His name is Kagami Taiga, I met him in the Seirin music center." 

"Why the hell are you still going to a music center? You're in a fucking record-selling band," Aomine shook his head. They were all simply out of their damn minds, that had to be the only explanation. It was just his luck that he was stuck with all these fucking lunatics.

"I teach guitar to elementary school kids there, which I'm fairly sure I've mentioned before, Aomine-kun." 

"Yeah, yeah, whatever, I'm going home."

"The car will pick you up at 7:55 A.M. sharp tomorrow, don't be late," Midorima said as the rapper walked out of the door, who in his turn replied with lifting up his hand and giving his band-mate the middle finger without looking back. 

-

Kise tugged at the hem of his black t-shirt to straighten it, half-walking and half-running at the same time. It was merely the second day of college, and he was already late. Not like it was completely his fault, he thought. He hadn't intended to lose track of time the night before and over-sleep.

For the past two weeks, ever since he had come home from the concert, the blond had been dedicating every second of his free time to music. He had purchased every single Miragen album he could find, and listened to the tracks on repeat in a state of pure awe. Aomine's voice blaring through his headphones constantly gave him goosebumps, the strength of the rapper's tone along with the intensity of the formless poetry in his lyrics was something he just couldn't get used to. Something that continued to amaze him with the start of each song as if he was listening to it for the first time.

The other part of his free-time was dedicated to downloading Japanese and American rap tracks, along with a few rock tracks. He found himself starting to adapt to those genres, and he now knew a few songs enough to perfectly sing along. Last night, he had spent hours standing on the edge of his bed with the headphones on full volume in his ears, singing at the top of his lungs. He could barely even remember when he fell asleep-

A low crashing sound yanked him out of his thoughts, along with the dull ache in his shoulder that followed closely behind. He looked up to see that someone had bumped into him, which had caused his phone to drop from his hand and fall on the floor.

The stranger didn't say anything, but he leaned down and picked up the phone. Kise couldn't make out the guy's features as he was wearing large black sweatshirt with the hood pulled over his face, sunglasses concealed the remainder of what little was apparent under the hood's shade.

"Ah, thank you-" Kise started as he took the phone from the stranger's hand, who only nodded in reply and walked away before Kise had the chance to apologize for bumping into him.

The model slipped his phone into his pocket, a look of slight confusion flashed across his face. He shook his head and hurried over to class.

The professor had already started when Kise walked in; she gave him a stern look then went on with the lecture. He quietly walked over to the back and flopped down, pressing his forehead against the edge of the desk.

"Psst, isn't that Aomine Daiki?"

A whisper caught his attention and he immediately lifted his head up, glancing at two girls infront of him that had their heads brought together so they could gossip better. One of them was nudging the other and pointing at the other side of the hall.

"Look, it's him, it's definitely him," an urged whisper made Kise glance in the direction in which the girl was pointing.

Sitting alone in the far-end of the hall was the same clad-in-black stranger that he had bumped into earlier. However, the guy had fallen asleep with his head against the back of the chair which made his hood fall back, revealing dark blue short hair and a tanned face.

There was no doubt about it, this was indeed definitely Aomine.

The girls reached that conclusion at the same time Kise did, and suddenly grew louder. Their whispers extended throughout the entire row, one of them producing a low screeching noise.

"Quiet!" The professor's voice travelled across the hall, silencing the over-excited fangirls. It made its way to Aomine's ears as well, who half-opened his eyes, groaning under his breath as he did so.

Kise quickly averted his eyes when he saw Aomine sit straighter up and pull his hood back on. He stole a couple more glances throughout the lecture to assure himself that Aomine was actually there and that he wouldn't just vanish into thin air.

As soon as the professor stopped talking, the fangirls were up on their feet.

"Aomine-kun!"

"Aomine-san, can you sign my notebook?!"

"Do you really go to school here?!"

The young rapper didn't seem fazed by the way people were suddenly approaching him. However, he didn't try to conceal his irritation, a crease forming at the bridge of his nose as he took a step back.

"Uh, excuse me I have another class to get to," he tried to make his way towards the door, the fangirls following in his trail and continuing to bombard him with questions and requests.

Kise had managed to cut through the masses and make his way out of the class, years of handling media attention has taught him how to utilize stealth when needed.

"Aomine-kun, please! Can I take a picture with you?!"

The shouts echoed through the hallway when Aomine walked away from class, drawing more attention to the fact that he was there. The blue-haired boy cursed inwardly, seeing that another crowd was heading his way. Looking around, he could see a number of students nearing him from different directions.

"Psst, hey, here," the rapper felt a poke between his shoulder blades, he glanced back to see a blond boy waving towards a nearby emergency exit. Without a second thought, he broke free from the crowd in a half-sprint.

The blond was holding the exit door for him, and Aomine slipped through as fast as possible. After that, the other boy hastily closed the door behind them.

"Down this hall, come on, there is another one that leads to the parking lot," he said, matching Aomine's fast-paced strides.

"Okay."

They reached the end of the hall in less than a minute, and the blond once again held the door for Aomine and headed out right after him.

"There, all good now," the boy smiled brightly at Aomine, who could have almost sworn the boy's smile caused as much glare to his eyes as the sudden exposure to the sun did.

"Err, thanks," the rapper leaned against the wall, letting out a sigh of relief.

"Don't mention it," his 'rescuer' replied, "I'm Kise, Kise Ryouta."

"Aomine Daiki."

"I kinda noticed," Kise said with a light laugh. He was standing there with Aomine; that was a part of his current reality. His mind attempted to wrap around that idea, it elevated his sense of nervousness and made a wave of heat go through him. He shoved his hands into the pockets of his blue jacket as he felt like they might just start shaking.

Naturally, Kise had met a brigade of famous models, and so the pressure one would associate with meeting celebrities should no longer affect him anymore. 

The truth was: His apprehension had nothing to do with the fact that Aomine was a public figure. It was the idea of being in the proximity of the talent that had been blowing his mind 24/7 ever since he first set eyes on the blue-haired rapper.

"Oi, you okay there?"

Kise realized that he had been staring off into space, too busy with his thoughts to hear what Aomine had just uttered to him.

"Eh? Yeah, yeah I'm alright! Sorry, just got a little distracted ~" Another smile lit up Kise's features, and Aomine couldn't fathom how it was possible for this much energy to radiate from a simple smile.

"I said, you look familiar," Aomine repeated, glancing at Kise with slightly narrowed eyes.

"Oh.." Did Aomine just recognize him?

"Yeah, I'm-I model," he stammered a little, making an effort in order to remain composed, then pointed upward. "Probably saw me on one of these."

The object he was referring to was a billboard that stood a few feet from where they were, with Kise's photo holding a men's cologne plastered over it.

".. That explains how you knew about the exits then, you already had a plan of escape for this sorta shit."

Kise grinned, a very faint blush adorned his cheeks and he tried his best to conceal it. What the hell was wrong with him? He was practically fawning over Aomine like a middle school-girl.

"Yeah," he tried to keep his tone casual and provide a nonchalant reply, but his voice choked a little over the response due to the feeling of pure giddiness that bubbled up within him.

"Shit."

Luckily for him, Aomine didn't notice that since his attention was directed to the other side of the parking lot. Apparently, the fans had managed to find him again and were running towards him.

Kise looked around for any building they could enter, but the only way to escape was to run right back into the college hallways, which would defeat the entire purpose.

"Fuck-wait, that's my ride over there, yeah, let's go." The rapper detached himself from the wall, and took off in a run towards a car that just pulled up near the sidewalk. Kise held his ground for a split-second, unsure of what he was supposed to do.

"Yo, hurry," Aomine called out to him, and Kise automatically moved in response. He hurried away from the parking lot, stopping when they reached a sleek black bmw 360i.

Aomine opened the front door and got inside, looking up at Kise who was just standing there with wide eyes, as if frozen in place. "Dude, what the hell is with you? Hurry up and get in, they won't leave you alone if you stay."

The blond nodded, hesitating a moment then slipping inside. Once he closed the door behind him, the driver took off.

"Watashi, we're gonna make a stop first to drop this guy off wherever he wants to go."

Watashi, the driver, shook his head, "I'm sorry, Aomine-san, I have orders from Akashi-san to take you straight to practice. No exceptions."


	3. New Sound

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again! This is the third chapter of this story. Thank you for reading it, any feedback would be appreciated. I'm sorry for the rather slow progress, it'll pick up soon though I promise. Thank you again, I hope you enjoy it! 
> 
> Chapter disclaimer: A few words from This Charming Man - The Smiths were used. I don't own the Smiths lyrics and I have no right to them.

Aomine Daiki was fuming when he walked through the doors of the studio building, which was a skyscraper right in the heart of the city's downtown area. The place belonged to the Akashi Corporation, and it was documented in the address book and on the internet as general office headquarters. However, the whole place was now being solely used by Miragen. The first two floors consisted of a number of studios, each one for a specific instrumental requirement and a larger one in which the whole band can practice at the same time. The third and fourth floors were made up of living areas for the band members, along with private rooms for each one of them. The rest of the building was currently unused, all access from the fifth floor up blocked.

"Damn it, I'm not a fucking kid," the rapper was mumbling under his breath, walking in a quick pace that reflected the agitation he felt. Kise trailed behind, nervously tugging at his earring due to the fact that he literally had no idea what he was supposed to do. 

Aomine had argued with his driver for almost half of the entire ride's time, trying to emphasize the importance of him making a stop to drop off his classmate. His classmate, a reference that left Kise unable to contain a grin. He had looked out the window then so that his expression wouldn't be seen, blaming this giddy excitement on the fact that he was still in the presence of the famous and talented rapper. 

Barging into the last room down the hall, the bluenette let the door fling wide open. The room looked like an office, with a desk in the left corner and a large wooden meeting table in the center. Behind the desk, sat the red-headed keyboard player, Akashi Seijuuro, with his hands clasped together and resting upon the desk's top. Around the meeting table sat the remainder of the Miragen members. 

Murasakibara was chewing on a bag of gummy bears. Across from him Midorima was attempting to orient the base of a doll statue with the straight edge of the table. Kuroko sat on the opposite side of the table, talking to a crimson-haired muscular boy that Kise couldn't recognize in a hushed voice. 

"Mine-chin brought a friend too," Murasakibara commented, looking up as Aomine and Kise stepped inside. 

"There is a reason practice is different from concerts, you know," Midorima added with a shake of his head, giving both Kuroko and Aomine a disapproving look. 

"I wouldn't have brought someone if Akashi would fucking let me make a stop to drop him off," Aomine snapped, "What's the deal with giving orders to Watashi?"

"Last three times you came late to practice because you made unnecessary side stops," Akashi's voice was as steady as his instrumental keynotes, and it sent chills down Kise's spine. 

"They were necessary." 

"If they led to you being late to practice, then no they were not." 

Kise stood by the door, a faint sense of guilt at being the reason for this altercation grew within him. He took a step back and observed the scene playing out infront of him. It gave him an odd feeling, reminding him of the times he would argue with his sisters at home. The atmosphere had a domestic nature to it, one that his mind never associated with studios and work environments. 

Up close, Miragen seemed more like a group of friends working on a school project together than certified chart-topping band members about to rehearse their music. 

"In any case, Daiki, save this for later," Akashi concluded, bringing the argument to an abrupt stop. "We have to discuss a few things before practice starts." 

The keyboard player directed his attention to the guy sitting by Kuroko, then to Kise. "These are private matters, so if our guests would wait in the studio till the discussion ends." 

He didn't add any further words, and the room fell silent for a minute. Kuroko's friend blinked in confusion, glancing at Kise with a raised eyebrow then back at Akashi. 

"It's the room next door," Kuroko interjected, "Right next to this one. Sorry, we won't take long." 

The voice almost made Kise jump up; he had forgotten that Kuroko was there even though he literally spotted him not less than five minutes ago. How was that even possible? 

Kise bowed his head forward in polite greeting, "Yes, alright, sorry for bothering you," he flashed one of his professional camera smiles to no one in particular – though for every person in the room, it felt as if he was specifically addressing them. 

After that, he turned around and headed out of the office. He strolled over to the room next door, following the instructions of the phantom band member. Thankfully, the door was unlocked and so he walked inside. The model had been in more studios than he could bother to remember, but this one was definitely something else. Lights were transfixed in the ceiling at all four corners, angled at the middle of the room where instruments were positioned the same way they were in the summer concert. They gleamed under the light, polished to a degree where they could be their own light source. Sound control boards covered the area of an entire wall and a half, equipped with technological features that Kise hadn’t seen before. 

The click of door hinges made him turn his head to the door, seeing the crimson-haired guy walk inside, his jaw hung slightly open in obvious awe at their surroundings. 

"Hey, I'm Kise Ryouta," Kise introduced himself, adorning the same smile he gave everyone before leaving the office room. He extended his hand, and the crimson-haired boy shook it awkwardly. 

"Kagami Taiga," the boy said, his expression turning from surprise to a mixture of indifference and a little grumpiness. 

"Nice to meet you," Kise turned around, almost twirling in the process, and treaded over to the instruments area. "Can you believe this place? It's amazing!" 

"You're too bubbly for a guy who just got kicked out," Kagami muttered, walking over to the only couch he could find in the room and leaning against the arm-rest, crossing his arms over his chest. 

Kise waved his hand in the air dismissively, "This studio is magnificent," he went on, ignoring Kagami's statement. The blond stepped over to the elevated area on which the instruments were placed, walking over to the middle and standing infront of the mic. Over the side of the shining silver stand was a printed signature; a cursive Aomine Daiki written in black ink. Biting at his lip, Kise reached out and closed his hand around the stand right below the mic. 

"Oi, I don't think you should do that." 

"It's not like I'm actually going to turn the mic on or anything, I'm just standing here," Kise said, defending himself. All his life, he's absolutely hated it when anyone had touched his stuff, so he could understand the consequence of what he was doing. But it's not like he could help it, this was where Aomine stood, this was Aomine's mic, and this moment was way too surreal for Kise's mind to comprehend. 

The last track he had been listening to this morning started replaying in his head, an 80s American rock track. He opened his mouth once then closed it, contemplating the idea over in his mind. A grin spread out across his features and he brought his lips less than an inch closer to the mic. 

"Why pamper life's complexities when the leather runs smooth on the passenger seat?  
I would go out tonight, but I haven't got a stitch to wear.  
This man said it's gruesome that someone so handsome should care."

There was a slight lilt to his vowels as he wasn't as accustomed to English, but he had practiced the language numerous times and he knew enough about it for his words to sound clear and not forced. He produced an 'Ah' sound, his voice taking on a higher pitch then falling back into a normal tone when he continued singing. 

"A jumped up pantry boy, who never knew his place.  
He said: Return the ring.  
He knows so much about these things,  
He knows so much about these things." 

Akashi was in the middle of discussing the upcoming venues the Miragen were asked to perform in, listing the pros and cons for each one to the members of his band when he heard a voice. He glanced at the speakers out of the corners of his mismatched eyes, "What was that?" 

"Is there a recording on?" Murasakibara asked, gulping down the last gummy bear in his bag.

Akashi shook his head, pointing at the red-lit box on the wall ahead of them. "It's set on record; someone must have left it on from last practice." 

The voice that streamed through the speakers was melodic, soft yet possessing an alluring trait. Akashi got up from the table and walked over to his desk, pressing a small button on a touch-screen embedded in the wood. A one-way mirror screen opened up in the wall by the red-lit box. A certain singing blond was revealed, clutching onto the mic as if he was standing on an actual stage and subtly swaying his body to the beat of his own sound. 

Aomine had been too distracted by a game on his phone, but the voice had instantly caused him to glance around. He followed the line of everyone's gaze, his eyes growing wide only a fraction. Kise seemed as if he was consumed by the music, too taken by it to notice anything around him as he managed to hit a few high notes without his voice cracking even once. It was rather impressive, but the idiot was using his mic. 

"I'm gonna go tell that baka, he probably has no idea the thing is on," the rapper stood up and prepared to leave the room, but Akashi stopped him by raising his finger in the air; gesturing for him to halt. 

"No, don't tell him anything," the red-head kept his focus on Kise for a few more seconds as the blond brought the song to a close, faking a bow as if fans were cheering for him. Akashi pressed the button once more, bringing the screen back down and cutting off the speakers in the process. 

-

Kise stepped off the elevated area and made his way over to the couch, sitting on the far side and leaning back against the comfortable leather.

Kagami was silent, only shaking his head at Kise's little 'performance' but not commenting on it, despite the fact that it was indeed a good one. He wasn't exactly the sociable type, and being in this place was making him feel nervous. Not that he would admit that, ever.

Ten minutes later, the door to the studio was opened and a girl stepped inside. She had long pink straight hair that reached to her waist, and a fair pore-less skin. Noticing the two boys, she smiled at first, then parted her lips in surprise. "Kise Ryouta, you're really here," she walked over to him, "I'm Momoi Satsuki, I love your work!"

Her voice was cheerful and she had a wide smile, her excitement at meeting Kise was obvious in her eyes. 

"Ah, thank you, that means alot to me," The blond nodded his head respectfully and offered her a smile, his usual routine for meeting fans. 

"Satsuki, please, you're acting like a kid," Aomine said as he walked into the room, yawning and stretching his arm back. 

Right in his trail followed the rest of the Miragen members, each one of them heading for his instrument straight away. 

"Hey, you'd do way worse if Mai-chan was here," Momoi retorted, smiling again at Kise then leaving his side to sit by the control board. She held a stack of papers in her hand that she neatly set down on a cleared area over the board.

"Tch, that's different," the rapper cleared his throat, standing infront of his mic. His gaze met Kise's, and the blond couldn't for the life of him figure out why Aomine was giving him that weird look, as if he was suddenly wearing a dress or something. It caused him to feel self-conscious, and he broke the eye contact, trying not to dwell too much on it.

"Kagami-chan, right?" Momoi turned her attention from Aomine to Kagami, looking intently at him. "How's Japan treating you so far? I was told you recently moved from America."

Kagami nodded, seemingly a little flustered. "Er, yeah. Japan's pretty good," he said, "Although, there aren't as many opportunities for freestyling here as there was back there."

"Freestyling? Do you rap too?" Kise was the one to ask, he'd recently become familiar with the terminologies belonging to various musical genres.

Another nod by the crimson-haired male, "Yes, but mostly freestyle. I don't normally write songs."

"Hmm," Momoi looked over the papers infront of her, tapping a pencil against a schedule that was drawn on one of them. "Dai-chan hasn't done anything freestyle in a while. It might be a good idea for him to brush up on it if he tried freestyling with someone."

The suggestion earned Satsuki a huff from Aomine, "Yeah, right," he rolled his eyes, "I don't need to brush up on anything."

At that, Kagami couldn't help but grin. "Oh, Aomine Daiki isn't up for a little competition? Not sure of the outcome?"

There was a challenging edge to his tone, and it pissed Aomine off greatly.

"Don't be ridiculous; the only one who can beat me is me."

"Then you shouldn't be opposed to some freestyle," Kagami shrugged, the grin never leaving his features.

"You'll regret it," Aomine locked eyes with Kagami, "Drop it and save face."

"I'm not interested in you saving face."

If there was something Kagami was good at, it was coaxing anyone of appropriate skill into a fierce competition. It was in his nature, along with his love for rap music. He had an approach that was considered aggressive even for this kind of industry.

And as for Aomine, aggression was basically a second-hand nature to him. He wouldn't go out of his way to attack someone, granted, but when he was worked up there was very little that could stop him.

The clash of these two personalities lead to the progression of events, and suddenly Kise found himself up on his feet, standing in a haphazard circle with the rest of Miragen and Momoi. In the middle of the circle, Kagami and Aomine stood facing eachother.

Akashi had agreed to a short freestyle contest, and Momoi was ecstatic about it. She brought out a coin from her pocket to decide who would start, to which Aomine declared he didn't want or need a starting advantage.

Kagami gritted his teeth at the arrogance of his opponent, but it only drove him into a heated start. The crimson-haired boy spat lyrics as soon as Momoi put on a standard beat, and his wordplay was fascinating. He fused in an introduction about himself in the lyrics, then ended his own verse with indirect trash talking aimed at Aomine.

The blue-haired rapper had a composed expression on his features, but his jaw clenched in a display of annoyance. From the second he opened his lips, Kise was thrown into a stupified trance.

Words poured out of Aomine's mouth, emphasizing that he was in no need of an introduction. He moved straight to the trash-talk portion of a freestyle battle. Instead of timing his words with the beat, it appeared to Kise as if the beat was morphing itself to his new idol's lyrics.

'He's so freaking cool..' It was a miracle that Kise had managed to not jump up or cheer out loud with the amount of enthusiasm and energy that Aomine's abilities sparked within him. 

It was Kagami's turn again, and he delievered with even more fire the second time around. He retorted to every piece of trash-talk Aomine spat his way, and flipped the situation around. 

The contest went on for about ten more minutes, and everyone was speechless. No one has ever stood their ground infront of Aomine in all his years for more than two minutes tops. 

However, Kagami was running out of breath and it showed in the way he started to break a sweat. Aomine took his last turn, doubling his rapping speed and using a few complex rhymes. His voice filled the room and Kise forgot that there was anyone else there. The rapper's tanned body rhymed with the music, his gestures timed to add more meaning to his rap. Kise's eyes followed the hand movements, his gaze trailing up over Aomine's forearm where he could see prominent veins tracing a line up to sculpted biceps. Heat rushed to his cheeks and he looked down, blinking. However, he didn't have too much time to ponder thoughts about Aomine's physique because once more his attention was caught in the contest.

The bluenette rapped for a minute and a half without stopping once to catch his breath, and the contest was about sealed.

"King is a title below mine; I'm on an apocalyptic level of my own  
Stop wasting my time, I reign undefeated in an inaccessible zone."

A half smirk tugged at Aomine's lips when he ended his turn, knowing that Kagami would have nothing to say back to that.

Surely enough, his opponent fell silent, grumbling under his breath. Anger at the defeat practically radiated off of his eyes. No one uttered another word until Akashi broke the silence, tapping his fingers against the edge of his keyboard. 

"Alright, the winner is Daiki," he said, declaring the obvious as it was the custom after freestyle battles. "We're behind schedule on practice, so we need to start." 

Mumbling a few words in agreement, everyone walked over to their respective instruments once more, still silent. Kise was the only one who seemed to be on edge, barely containing himself from clapping or congratulating Aomine. He went back to the couch, and sat there for the remainder of an hour and a half as practice went on. 

The music was mindblowing, but it lacked lyrics as Aomine barely sang. He simply laid down verses here and there so the others could adjust their music to his rhyme since Akashi had him refrain from actually singing full songs. Kise had been itching to take out his phone and send a picture to Takao, who he knew would throw an enormous fit when he finds out where Kise had spent the day. However, Akashi told him to put away the phone and turn it off as soon as he took it out. 

And he did so out of a little more than politeness; the look from the band leader's mismatched eyes was more intimidating up close than he imagined it would be. 

After practice was done, Aomine approached Kise and told him that he'll get the driver to take him back home. 

"No, it's okay, I can walk," the blond replied to his idol's offer, "You have to practice more, right?" He had over-heard Akashi telling Aomine that he will start his individual practice session in exactly ten minutes. 

"Yeah," he said, "Anyways, Watashi is waiting for you outside." 

"It's no problem, really, I can just walk home. I don't live that faraway from here-" 

"Take the damn car," Aomine cut him off impatiently, preparing to turn around and head towards his own studio. 

Kise's smile faltered for a second, and he thought about arguing more. Despite that, he refrained from it since he felt it could upset Aomine. Besides, the rapper probably didn't have time for petty things like that anyhow. 

Regardless, he shouldn't be thinking like that. Attending the Miragen practice has been a great opportunity for him, and he should completely and whole-heartedly be embracing and appreciating it. His lips spread into an even wider smile. 

"Well then, thank you. See you in class, Aomineicchi ~" 

The bluenette paused in his tracks on his way to the studio, glancing back at Kise with an arched eyebrow. "Aomineicchi? What the hell is that?" 

"It's your nickname. See, I add 'icchi' to the names of people I respect," the blond explained. 

Aomine huffed, turning around again. "Whatever, it's stupid, don't call me that," he said. When he was at the door of his studio, he stopped as he opened the door and waved at Kise without looking at him. 

"Later, Kise."


	4. Homework

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again! Thank you for taking the time to read the story! Even though fluff isn't my strong point, a little fluff never hurts anyone so I hope you enjoy this ~ !

"So, what do you have for me?"

Momoi was sitting in her room two nights after the practice when she had met Kise. Her legs were crossed over the bed, her laptop set on the mattress in front of her. She held a cell-phone close to her left ear as she scrolled down a word document on the screen. 

"I sent you Kise Ryouta's middle school and high school full records," she replied to the calm, monotonous voice that addressed her through the phone's speakers, "He's been relatively famous as a model ever since he was 13, and his fame constantly increased over the last five years. He's talented." 

"What about a musical background?" 

"Nothing," the pink-haired girl responded, sending over a few more files as an email attachment. "There is not a single event in all the information I could gather that has anything to do with music. I've checked with a number of my sources." 

"Hmm. He's a complete rookie then, as I had presumed." 

"Sei-chan, what are you planning exactly? Why do you want to know this much about him?" 

"You've heard him sing, haven't you? I'm considering him." 

Pink eyes widened at the statement, and Momoi stopped scrolling down for a minute, leaning her head back against the wall. "What? But we've only heard him sing one verse of one song, that's hardly a basis for any judgment."

"Do you recall the day you came to talk to me about Daiki? I only saw him rapping on a street corner for five minutes before I called you both to a meeting. In less than a week, we had recorded our first album as Miragen."

"Yes, but-" 

Akashi interrupted her, "Satsuki, Shogi is a game that's based on logical thought and calculated moves. However, sometimes, an opportunity for advancing reveals itself that can only be snatched through making a quick decision."

Momoi sighed, there was little that Akashi took more seriously than Shogi. The fact that he referenced the game made it clear that he had already made up his mind, and Akashi's decisions have always been absolute.

"Okay, well, do you want me to contact him? As the manager, I would have to arrange an audition with his manager as he is already a public figure." 

"No, that won't be necessary. For now, don't do anything. Thank you for your effort, Satsuki. Goodnight." 

-

The university's halls were far emptier than usual; the majority of people attending classes around that time of the afternoon. Said majority didn't include a blond model and a certain well-known rapper. 

"Aomineicchi, this is your fault. If you hadn't been sleeping this wouldn't have happened," Kise whined for the second time since they were kicked out of class. He carried a large stack of papers in his hand, doing his best to keep a firm hold on it so it doesn't fall all over the floor.

"It's not like you were sitting up front taking notes," Aomine shoved his hands into the pockets of his large black hoodie, "You were listening to your iPod."

"I was not, I was just checking something, related to research," Kise spoke in his own defense, even though he knew Aomine was right. It was barely the third week of the semester, and they were both already given ultimatums. Their attendance record was almost non-existent, and they had both missed an exam. 

"Sure you were," the bluenette opened the door and walked outside the building. "So what now?" 

Kise slipped through the door sideways before it closed, unable to keep it open since his hands were occupied.

"Now we have to work on these assignments and hand them all in by tomorrow," the blond replied, "So we need to start working."

"You can start working, I don't have time for this bullshit."

"The professor said she'll fail us if we don't work together and turn them in on time, completed," he sighed, "She just said so a minute ago, you need to pay more attention."

"Shut up," Aomine muttered, pinching the bridge of his nose as he felt a slight hint of a headache coming on. Usually, he wouldn't care about that crap, but he hesitated. Even though this shit didn't matter, his name being associated with failure in anything didn't sound appealing to his pride. "Fine."

He wondered how it was that he'd ended up being partnered with the only person he somehow knew in class, but he figured it had something to do with the fact that they had the worst academic performance. He'd come to college only twice since the start of the semester; the first was when he first met Kise and the second was a class he didn't even remember and he ended up attending only half of it. Kise was with him in that class as well, and he left the lecture around the same time Aomine did. They had exchanged small talk on the way out, but that has been it.

Satsuki, on the other hand, had somehow already exchanged numbers with the model and they were texting almost everyday according to her. They even managed to have a shopping trip planned and the rapper had no idea how someone could possibly form a friendship so fast.

Still, despite the fact that they didn't talk much, Kise acted as if he had known Aomine for the longest time. 

"There's a coffeeshop right down the street, we could work there," Kise suggested, "Between the two of us, this won't take too long."

The rapper shook his head, "No, that won't work out, a public place would just be a hassle."

Kise paused, re-thinking his suggestion and letting out another sigh. "Yeah, you're right.." He bit at his bottom lip, gazing up as he tried to think of an alternative.

"How about my place? My family is out of town for a few days on a trip to Osaka," he shrugged, trying to make the suggestion seem like it was the most natural thing in the world. 

Aomine was taken aback by the suggestion, for some reason it caused a very faded hint of unease to prick his nerves. Why should he care where they worked? It's just school shit, no one cares. 

"Okay. Watashi is waiting up ahead, he'll drive us there." Aomine started walking again right after finishing that sentence, and Kise felt more than a bit awkward. Maybe suggesting his place wasn't the greatest of ideas, the model thought.

In any case, it was too late to back out now. 

They arrived at their destination around twenty minutes later. Kise's house was in a quiet closed-off compound that had a suburban feel to it. Small green spaces extended between the residential units, and most of the houses were painted white or a light hue of peach. 

Kise gave half of the papers over to Aomine as soon as they got out of the car, "It's your work too."

Aomine begrudgingly took his share of the stack, shoving it under his arm and crumbling some of the papers in the process. 

"Fancy place," the bluenette observed, walking up to the steps of one of the white-painted houses which had a semi-pitched caramel roof.

"Said the dude who lives in a skycraper," Kise grinned and took out his keys, unlocking the door and holding it open for Aomine to step in first.

The interior of the household was as spacious as the exterior suggested. Aomine stood aside by the door while Kise took off his shoes and let the door close on its own behind him. Aomine did the same, quietly following after Kise when he trailed off inside the house.

The hall stretched on for a few more feet before the staircase appeared, "My room is up here."

Aomine couldn't fathom the reason he remained silent or walked with a reluctant pace. The feeling of unease he'd felt earlier re-surfacing. All around him, the walls were painted in a stain-free white with various glass picture frames and paintings hung around. The house appeared to be lacking any faults, and the rapper sensed he was highly out of place.

That was until Kise unlocked the door to his own room. The place was a mess; clothes were strewn across the chair and the desk infront of it, a pile of magazines were discarded on the floor, and an open laptop lay in the middle of the mattress connected to a pair of speakers that dangled off of the bed. 

"Sorry, I wasn't expecting anyone."

Kise shuffled ahead, setting the paper stack on the clear part of the desk then starting to quickly pick up stuff here and there, trying to shove them out of sight. Aomine put his own share of papers over Kise's, and scanned the room from the corner while Kise cleaned up. The walls were painted white like the rest of the house, save for one wall that was painted yellow and another wall where he couldn't even see the paint due to the amount of posters covering it. 

"You can sit down, I'll only take a minute," Kise smiled, glancing at Aomine as he carried a pile of clothes over to the closet. 

There were only two seating options available in the room, the chair and the bed. The chair was currently out of order due to the fact that it was still littered with a pair of jeans and some shirts, so Aomine opted for sitting on the edge of the mattress. His gaze fell on the screen of the laptop that Kise had left running, and there was a Youtube video from Aomine's first ever recorded live concert with Miragen, paused halfway through. Seeing that, the unease that had been taunting the rapper ever since they left the university began to alleviate.

"So you're a fan, huh?" Though there was no change in his signature tone, his amusement showed in his expression. 

Kise was at the mattress within a second, and he closed the laptop's lid down as fast as he possibly could without breaking it. 

"I just stumbled on that video, on twitter, I was checking out in the morning, that's all." A faded pink hue dusted Kise's cheeks, and he was suddenly way too aware of every single fiber of his own being when he noted how Aomine was looking at him. 

"You're a fan," Aomine repeated leaning back against the wall behind the bed. 

Kise scoffed, picking up the laptop and speakers and taking them to the desk he had just cleared up. "So what? That doesn't mean I won't tell you to get off your ass and start working, we have too much to do."

Under normal circumstances, no one usually talked back to Aomine in that manner, save for Tetsu probably. It surprised him that Kise was enough of a fan to actually listen to his old stuff, since the blond hasn't told him anything about his music before. The bluenette rubbed at his temple; these thoughts were too odd for his liking.

"What do we have to do? I don't have all day." 

Kise carried over the papers from the desk back to the bed, setting them on the mattress and pulling up the chair so that he could sit across from Aomine.

"We have to start solving these math questions, trigonometry," the model frowned as he read through the questions, "I think." 

"What the fuck is trigonometry?" 

"It's when you calculate things related to triangles, like angles and stuff," Kise grabbed two pencils and handed one to his classmate, "Well, we better get started." 

The blond grabbed a few papers and sat back in the chair, crossing his legs and scanning through the questions once more. Despite the fact that he appeared completely focused in his work, as if he perfectly knew what he was doing, Kise was barely reading the headlines of each question. His mind was engulfed in the fact that Aomine was only a foot away from him, in his room, casually doing homework with Kise. There was something about his presence that made Kise feel as if he shouldn't be that close, as if Aomine was a rare artifact that one should appreciate from a distance but should never stand close to. 

"What are you doing?" 

Aomine's voice yanked Kise away from his thoughts, they had only supposedly started less than five minutes ago, but the rapper hadn't moved an inch. He was rolling the pencil around between his thumb and index finger. 

"I'm doing work." 

"No, you're staring at the paper, you haven't even touched the pencil," the rapper nodded in the direction of the discarded pencil on the bed. 

"Well, I'm brainstorming first." 

"Whatever, I'm hungry. Let's get food." 

"Aomineicchi, we don't have time-" 

"I can't work on an empty stomach," Aomine replied, then added, "And I told you not to call me that." 

Kise ignored the addition, stretching his legs and sitting properly again. "Okay, we can order something. What do you wanna eat?"

"Teriyaki burgers," Aomine adjusted himself so that he was lying down on the bed, his arm bent beneath his head. "There's a place close by, they deliver." 

\- 

The food arrived shortly after Kise had placed in the order; he had gotten burgers, a salad and Pocari Sweat. He put the bag of food on the bed infront of Aomine, taking his own salad and drinking and settling back in his chair. 

"Don't drop anything on the bed, and use a paper towel," the blond said. 

"Yeah, mom," Aomine rolled his eyes, grabbing a burger out of the bag and unwrapping it, eating half of the thing in one bite. The air around the two teenagers was incomprehensible. It wasn't exactly awkward, as they both sat comfortably enough in their respective positions. At the same time, there was a tension between them associated with unfamiliarity. 

Needless to say, Kise was the one to attempt to break that tension. "How long have you been rapping?" he asked, taking a bite out of his salad. 

Aomine was almost done with his first burger, "Thirteen years," he replied after chewing, balling up the empty wrapper and tossing it back into the bag. 

"And you've never felt bored?" Kise asked with a raised eyebrow, popping his drink open and taking a sip then balancing it on the armrest of the chair. 

"Boredom is for people who suck at what they do," Aomine was biting into his second burger, small talk for once not getting on his nerves. He usually despised having these kinds of conversations with people, but right now, it didn't feel that irritating. 

Kise laughed, "Neh, so confident." 

Aomine simply shrugged, not saying anything and focusing on his food. They both ate in silence for a couple more moments, and Kise again wasn't sure what he should do or say. It was an alien feeling, as the blond was usually used to knowing exactly what to do in social situations. He had forgotten about the fact that he had a drink, stretching his arm back and causing the can to topple over and spill its contents on his lap. 

He produced a small yelp, seeing the drink spill over the pair of designer jeans he had just bought last week. "Shit-Oh my God, no no," he set the salad plate aside and grabbed some tissues, attempting to rub at the fabric over his thigh hastily, but to no avail. 

Aomine was startled into looking up when Kise yelled, and as soon as his mind registered the sight, he couldn't help the grin that spread across his features. "Woah, dude, chill," he said, snorting. 

"Aomineicchi, you don't understand, this will leave a permanent stain," Kise continued trying to dry the spot on his pants, his jaw set in concentration. 

The sight earned a small laugh from Aomine, who had finished his food and was now sipping on his drink. "You look like you peed your pants," he teased. 

"Ugh, don't be so immature, baka," Kise felt his face heat up at the comment, and his bottom lip extended a little in a pout. He dropped his arm and sighed, realizing that his efforts weren't paying. 

"I'm not the one who looks like they just peed themselves," Aomine laughed again, it was a miracle he managed not to spit his drink out. 

Kise glared at the rapper, then picked up the over-turned soda can. There was some liquid remaining in it, which he splashed over Aomine, targeting the area just below his waist-line.

"Now you are," Kise crossed his arms over his chest with a triumphant 'hmph.' 

"What the fuck-Bastard!" Aomine retorted by spilling the contents of his own drink in Kise's face, whose reflexes weren't fast enough as he ducked a minute too late. 

"My hair!" He coughed as some of the liquid had gotten into his mouth, and reached out to touch the ends of his hair that were now sticky with Pocari Sweat. "Eww," he pouted once more at the feel of it, at which point Aomine couldn't contain himself anymore and burst out into laughter.

"Look at what you've done, Aomineicchi!" Kise glanced over to the mirror, his nose scrunching in disgust at the sight of his soiled hair. 

"Heh, I win this round," Aomine said when he finally managed to stop laughing; throwing the empty can in the bag along with the wrapper. 

"I need a shower, right now," Kise crossed his arms over his chest, shaking his head at the sight of himself in the mirror. 

"Suck it up, princess," the bluenette was no longer laughing, but a wide smirk was glued to his features. He got up and took a look at his own mess in the mirror. Kise's drink had been spilled for the most part before he threw it at Aomine, so the stain that formed beneath his waistline and over the hem of his shirt was fairly small. 

"I'm not gonna sit around with hair like this," the blond stepped away from the mirror and walked over to his closet to get a fresh towel. He handed it over to Aomine, "The guest bathroom is down the hall, you can clean up there, I'm gonna shower."

"You're taking this way too seriously," Aomine commented, still amused as he took the towel. 

"You're not taking it seriously enough because you're a baka," Kise argued, glaring in a childish manner at the rapper, the pout never leaving his face. Seeing it sent a miniature wave of guilt through Aomine that he quickly brushed off. "You can sit and think of what you've done while I clean up." 

With that, Kise walked into the bathroom and disappeared behind a door that he slammed shut.   
It took less than two minutes for Aomine to wash his hands and clean up the stain on his clothes; he treaded back into the room and flopped down on the bed. Kise seemed like the sort of person who would take their time in a shower, so maybe he had a little bit of time to nap-

A muffled voice echoed through the thin wall separating the bathroom from Kise's bedroom, and Aomine tried to focus his hearing in on it. 

The voice followed a tune that Aomine vaguely recognized, and he realized that Kise was singing. He couldn't exactly make out all the words at first due to the sound of pouring water, but he could hear the blond's soft yet vibrant tone he'd heard a couple of weeks ago in practice. Impressive had been an under-description on his part, he mused, hearing Kise hit a high note and perfect it in a way Aomine has never heard a male voice adapt to before. 

He lost track of time listening to Kise, his ear almost pressed up against the wall so he could hear the words more clearly. It was commercial pop song, one that Aomine would usually not be interested in. However, the model attributed a certain quality to the music that Aomine couldn't recognize. Even though the blond was copying the exact highs and lows of the song, strictly following the original song's key, he added something to it that made it seem entirely new and much better. 

Before Aomine could realize it, Kise's voice had died along with the tapping sound of water falling down the shower drain. The blond walked out a little while dressed in dark sweatpants and a loose shirt, which contrasted greatly with the tight-fitted polished expensive-looking attire he usually wore. His damp hair dripped over his shoulder, dampening the fabric of his shirt in its turn. 

"How much work did you finish?" The blond asked, his mood flipped back to what Aomine assumed was his normal self, all pouting and whining gone. 

"None," Aomine ran his hand through his hair, pulling the hood of his jacket over his head. 

"Aomineicchi, you're wasting time." 

"You're the one who told me to sit and think of what I did, so I did that," Aomine closed his eyes, resting his head back against the wall. 

"You're awfully lazy for someone who had written over 250 songs," Kise mumbled, sitting down on the chair and taking up the papers again. 

"How did you know that?" 

Kise paused, "Um, twitter, so many things on twitter," he cleared his throat, "So, come on, let's start, it's getting late ~ "

"Ah-huh." 

There were two factors that both boys hadn't put into account. The first factor was that Aomine, if not woken up, can sleep for an entire day without once blinking an eye open. The second factor was that Kise had been getting more and more into singing as of late, which had led to even less sleep hours as he had to balance his new hobby with work. 

These two factors, if added mathematically in combination with ten minutes of a silent attempt at work, equal to two college boys falling asleep without even noticing it.


	5. Unexpected Change

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yo. The music industry is sure a fast paced one. Well, a little more fluff also never hurt anyone. I hope you enjoy, and thanks for reading ~

The first sun rays of the morning streamed through the window shortly after dawn, directly reflecting over Aomine's closed eyelids. The rapper stirred so that his head was buried in the pillow he had his arm wrapped under. His body was sprawled diagonally across the bed, his feet stretching over the side.   
  
A loud buzzing sound hit his eardrums and he grunted, half opening one dark azure eye and scanning the area for the source of the noise – which turned out to be his phone. It was perched against the nightstand's leg where it had fallen out of his pocket at some point of the night.   
  
He reached out for it and squinted so he could read the text flashing across the screen.   
  
FROM: AKASHI   
_Come to the studio immediately after your class. And bring Kise Ryouta._   
  
It took Aomine a few moments of re-reading the text to fully comprehend the words, starting to wake up in the process. His vision landed on a pink bottle of some sort of cream, what the hell was that doing in his room?   
  
Wait-His room doesn't have a white carpet, he thought. Realization dawned on his now alert mind and he sat up with an abrupt jolt.   
  
This was Kise's place; he'd fallen asleep here at some point. Glancing to his right, his realization was confirmed as he found the blond sitting on a chair by the bed. His feet were propped up over the desk, his head rested against the back of the chair. A few stray blond strands covered one of his closed eyes, and his lips were a tad parted as he breathed evenly.   
Papers littered the floor beneath the bed and all around the chair, reminding Aomine of the reason he came here in the first place.   
  
Fuck.   
  
"Kise, Kise wake up," he started, his voice sounding gruff with sleep. The blond merely stirred, turning his head away from Aomine and remaining asleep.   
  
"Kise," Aomine coughed, and then raised his voice a little. He reached out and shook Kise's shoulder, "Wake up, it's morning. Wake the fuck up."   
  
The blond waved a hand in the air, curling up on the chair. "Five more minutes," he mumbled, smacking his lips subconsciously and still not opening his eyes. The rapper was fed up at this point; it was too early to deal with this. He grabbed a pillow and threw it at Kise with all his might, almost causing the model to topple off of the chair.   
  
"Ha-What-" Kise woke up with a start, swatting the pillow away from his face and sitting straight up. He looked at Aomine and blinked twice, his brain failing for a minute to register that he was awake. "Aomineicchi..Aomineichhi! You're here! Why are you-The papers!"   
  
Watching Kise verbalize his realization out loud was mildly amusing, Aomine had to admit. The blond's expression went through a number of changes; from exhaustion, to disbelief, and finally pure horror.   
  
"Shit, what time is it? We didn't do any of the work!"   
  
"That's because you fell asleep, baka."   
  
"Did you stay up and work?" Kise asked, tossing the pillow back on the bed and straightening out his hair that was only very slightly messed up by sleep.   
  
Aomine shook his head, "Ofcourse not, I was asleep too."   
  
"Okay, okay," Kise glanced at the clock on his wall then back at Aomine, "It's five, which means we have three hours. It's possible."   
  
The next couple of hours had been mostly a blur for the two teenagers. Kise ignored Aomine's questions as to 'What the fuck he meant by possible' and his statements of 'It's too late to do anything now.' The blond had gotten up and left the room, returning a few minutes after with two cups of coffee. He then proceeded to pick up the papers and split them in half between the two of them once more. The internet was called upon for guidance, and both boys got to work.   
  
Five minutes before the deadline, they were barely arriving at campus with a little over half of the work done. Considering the circumstances, it has been an achievement to a certain degree. The professor, on the other hand, had a different opinion. She scolded both of them on their laziness and poor behavior, and accepted their assignment for now though giving them a last warning.   
  
"That was close, but we did it, Aomineicchi!" Kise gave Aomine an enthusiastic grin, "We should celebrate."   
  
"No time for that," Aomine muttered, remembering Akashi's text.   
  
"Huh? Aomineicchi has something to do so early in the day?"   
  
" _We_ have something to do."   
  
-   
  
When Kise stepped into the main recording studio behind Aomine, he almost froze in his tracks. It has been weird enough that the rapper had told him to come along and then proceeded to provide no other explanation.    
  
But this was something he hadn't been anticipating. The equipment was set mid-area like it had been the last time he was here, and the Miragen members stood near their instruments.    
  
Except this time, they were all tentatively staring right at him. No one even uttered a single word of greeting to the blond or even to their own bandmate.    
  
Much to Kise's relief, it was Akashi who first broke the silence. "Ryouta," he addressed him directly by his first name, but there was nothing familiar or friendly about his cool tone. The red-haired band leader stepped off the elevated make-shift stage area and made his way to where Kise stood with his feet planted anxiously in the ground.   
  
"These are the lyrics to an unreleased, never mentioned before song," Akashi handed a paper over to Kise, his mismatched eyes boring into Kise's golden orbs when he spoke.   
  
Kise stared, dumbfounded, at the paper; reflexively reaching out to take it and looking it over then glancing back at Akashi.   
  
"You're giving me an exclusive insight to it? I don't know what I did to earn that but you really didn't have to-"    
  
Akashi cut him off, "Do you see the highlighted areas? These are the chorus," he continued, "It consists of 7 lines, and is repeated 3 times. Right now, you're going to sing it."   
  
"Hah?" Aomine was the one to respond, this was the first time for him to hear about this. He could recognize the song as one he had written, and he thought they had agreed to simply omit the lyrical chorus and replace it with instrumental solos as per the habit.    
  
But Aomine's surprise was nothing in comparison to the shock Kise had felt. His jaw dropped in a near-comical manner and his gaze shifted between Akashi to the paper then back to Akashi again. "You want me.. To sing? But-I don't usually sing-I mean, I don't even know the tune."   
  
Akashi turned away from Kise and made his way back to where his keyboard was positioned. "We're going to start performing the song, it's your role to recognize when to break in for the chorus and how to make the words adapt to the music," he spoke as if he were simply dictating a list of groceries for Kise to go buy, "Come on, Daiki. We're starting."   
  
"What the hell, Akashi? What's going on here?" Aomine asked, trying to extract some form of answer from his bandmates by scanning their faces for any expression. None of them met his gaze and they all pretended to concentrate on their instruments.    
  
"Daiki, this isn't the first time you've seen this happen," Akashi adjusted a few settings on his keyboard, "We don't have all day. Ryouta, take the second mic over there."   
  
Confusion knotted the rapper's eyebrows together before realization dawned on him for the second time that day. He recalled Kuroko's initiation into the band, and how Akashi had put him to a test by placing him in a hollowed out empty studio and making him time his play with the effect of the echo and keep up with certain sudden frequency changes and re-directing them to create a stronger and more audible sound. It had been a bizarre sight to observe, but no one else was involved in the test back then.   
  
And he was informed of Kuroko's audition beforehand. Heck, he was the one who noticed his play before all the others.   
  
Kise was sure something didn't add up, this situation made no sense whatsoever. The whole ordeal had managed to knock the words right off his mouth, something that never happened to Kise. The blond was always prepared, the blond always knew how to counteract whichever thing life throws in his way and he never faltered. There was no reason for him to falter; he'd always been one step ahead.   
  
And he wasn't about to fail his nature now, especially not when he was surrounded by this amount of talent. Especially not when Aomine was there.    
  
He took a few steps forward till he was standing before the second mic, and Akashi took that as an opportunity to start. He ran his fingers over the keyboard sleekly, and the music started.    
  
He'd been in this very place just a couple of weeks ago and he had listened to the band play up close. But now, now he was listening to the band from the  _inside._ The mic was positioned near the center of the elevated area, right next to Aomine's. The rapper broke out into his verse and the words felt to Kise as if they were flowing straight into his own ear. Aomine standing so close to him combined with the full force of Aomine's voice reverberating into the mic and throughout the speakers almost made his knees feel weak. The blond gnawed at the insides of his cheek as he re-read the chorus, nervousness plagued his insides like a bunch of ants crawling over a discarded piece of food on the floor. A lump formed in his throat, his hand tightened around the stand to the point that his knuckles were whitened.    
  
Suddenly, Aomine's voice came to a stop. A mountain of pressure built up within Kise in the manner of a volcano threatening to explode. Flexing his fingers then closing them around the stand again, Kise took a deep somewhat audible breath.   
  
And he closed his eyes. The music that played around him slipped into the interior of his mind, and he recalled a bunch of the music videos he had seen over the span of the last month. Timing was key; and he could see the seconds counting down rapidly in his mind's eye.   
  
He opened his lips, and miraculously enough, sound flew out. He could hear his own voice as if he were an outsider listening from half a mile away, and he imagined himself controlling it like a DJ controls beats on his mixing table.    
  
Aomine glanced at him, finding Kise's entire demeanor extravagant. The blond performed as if it was natural to him; as if it was something he had been doing all his life. His voice didn't have a strong impact like that of the rapper's, but he seemed to be singing with his entire body. His movements were fluid like his sound, light and captivating.    
  
Kise hit every note in sync with the musical pauses, lowering his voice when a vibrant chord was struck and reaching high tones when the music fell into a calmer pitch.    
  
When they were done, Kise was panting. He opened his eyes and leaned his forehead against the mic, his mind still caught in disbelief.    
  
"Kise-chin is good," Murasakibara was the first to speak, getting up off of his chair and stretching his arms back. He reached out into his pocket and took out a chocolate bar. Kuroko nodded in agreement with his bandmate, giving Kise a thumbs up while maintaining his normal collected expression.   
  
"I suppose that was not bad for a rookie," Midorima provided his input, taking out a roll of tape and starting to re-bandage his right hand fingers.    
  
Aomine didn't have time to add to the commentary as Momoi burst into the room, running over to Kise and hugging him. "Ki-chan! You were amazing!" The pink-haired manager was followed by Kise's own agent, who had the smile on her face of someone who'd just won a million dollars.   
  
"Kise-kun, great job," she complimented him, patting him on the back after Momoi had pulled away.   
  
Kise looked at his agent then Momoi, their presence causing yet another shock for the model who had no idea what the hell he was doing there.   
  
Akashi adjusted a few settings on his keyboard, cracking his knuckles right after. The sound made everyone fall silent and turn their attention to the short red-head.   
  
"You have just become a Miragen band member, Ryouta. Congratulations."   
  
-   
  
"Aomineicchi! One more, just one more! Come on!"   
  
Kise stood infront of Aomine, blocking the way between the tanned rapper and the door. His arms were spread out to cover the range of the door frame in order to stop Aomine from leaving the studio.   
  
It had been almost a month since Kise was initiated into the band, and the blond has rejoiced in the opportunity that had been opened before him every single second of every minute he had spent ever since. Some nights, minutes prior to falling into the clutches of sleep, Kise would imagine that this all had been a dream. That his life is as the same it was, a routine infused with a number of formal occasions and hobbies he'd master and get bored of in a matter of a few days. Music revived him; it gave him a reason to try harder, to want more out of his life, to try and reach his utmost limits and best them. It was ridiculous to think all of this happened within the span of a quarter of a year, but that was his reality.   
  
And it was all thanks to this irritated blue-haired male who was now glaring at him.   
  
"I said no, it's been over three motherfucking hours," Aomine groaned. Kise had been keeping him in the studio in order to practice for the better half of the day. For the life of him, Aomine couldn't figure out how exactly Kise managed to not fail class, still regularly keep up with his modeling, record music on Akashi's strict schedule yet  _still_ find time for these annoying 'one-on-one sessions' as he calls them.   
  
"But I still want to go over one more technique, come on, I wanna try to sync that note to your sped-up verse," The blond pouted, tightening his grip over either sides of the door frame. Aomine figured he could just push him aside, but the way Kise's lean forearm muscles flexed hinted that the blond may have more fight in him than his appearance would suggest.   
  
Aomine scratched at his right ear, "You can't keep up with me. Just deal with it," he sighed in exasperation.   
  
Kise's pout deepened, he dropped his arms off of the door and shoved past Aomine; stomping back into the studio. "You don't know that for sure, I can, and I will. I will even hit notes that  _you_ can't keep up with one day."   
  
The rapper could have just left right then and there, the door was wide open. He could have just left and spent the day checking out Mai-chan's new photobook like he'd intended.   
  
_Fuck that blond bastard and his fucking challenges._   
  
"I'm going to shut you up so bad right now," Aomine turned around and walked back into the room, taking the mic off of the stand and heading over to the nearest chair. He leaned against the armrest, glancing at Kise who was now grinning in a frustratingly blinding way. No one should ever be that cheerful, no one.   
  
"We'll see about that," Kise said in a near sing-song voice, picking up one of the many mics that lined up the wall. This was Aomine's personal studio, and so it was equipped for his own musical needs.   
  
The blond set the beat to play again, and cleared his throat. He went first, building up the initial chorus for the song. His voice was crisp as he held the mic just the appropriate distance from his full pink lips to produce an optimum quality of sound, a trick that he had picked up from Aomine. The rapper shook his head, focusing his eyesight on the floor as he subconsciously nodded his head to the beat.   
  
_Full pink lips. Where the hell did that thought come from?_   
  
Once Kise's vocals stopped, Aomine fell into his own verse.   
  
Kise couldn't help but stare at him then. Even after spending so much time working on music with the tanned male, he still couldn't get over the way Aomine manipulated sound. His words were a bullet train aimed at the very heart of the earth; they were as fast as they were dangerous. Every time he emphasized a word or broke one apart to create rhythm, it made Kise feel as if he was being drawn into Aomine's very own mind. The words moved him, filled him with a raging energy that made him feel as if he had just become ten times stronger.   
  
It was insane that one person could have that much impact with just opening his mouth.   
  
"Give up already?" Aomine's question brought Kise back into the material word, and he realized that he was simply replaying the rapper's words in his head even after they had actually stopped. He didn't perform his own part of the song as he had been too busy admiring the skills that his idol possessed.   
  
"Ofcourse not," Kise's expression was wiped clean of the surprise as if by a sponge, and his earlier cheerful tone returned, accompanied by a smile that Aomine has come to recognize as Kise's 'people smile.' It was odd, and he hadn't noticed it at first. But after spending some time with Kise, he began to recognize that Kise had a thousand different expressions. Some were genuine, others – while perfect, were clearly superficial.   
  
Just then, Aomine's and Kise's phones went off at the exact same time. Both boys regarded eachother for a second then picked up their respective phones. There were text messages from Kuroko, informing them that as of that moment, the first Miragen album to include songs with Kise's vocals had just gone viral.   
  
"Oh my God-Oh my God, Oh my God! Aomineicchi!" Kise almost dropped the mic, but being the graceful person he is, he managed to set it down aside before he jumped right up and off the short chair he'd been standing on. He was about as active as a five year old in a playground, skipping over to Aomine and showing him the text even though he knew Aomine had gotten the same one.   
  
"We have to go online to see the reviews! My first album!" The blond practically vibrated with excitement, and Aomine wasn't sure whether that intrigued him or pissed him off.   
  
"What are you freaking out about, baka? It's just an album," he shrugged it off, putting his mic back on the stand.   
  
"It's my first album! I need to see what people are saying about it. I need to know what they think." A hint of anxiety slipped through Kise's tone, and the blond bit at his lip.     
  
"They'll be saying great stuff," Aomine's tone remained casual as he settled back into the chair, resting his head against the back of it and folding his arms beneath his head. "Because you're good."   
  
Kise was mid-way through a scroll down his twitter feed, which was plagued with mentions, when Aomine spoke. He immediately stopped and looked at him. "What?"   
  
"Did you go deaf? I said, you're good," Aomine muttered impatiently.   
  
"You really think that?" Kise felt his face heat up instantly, but it wasn't the biggest of his concerns at the moment. Aomine, who normally complained whenever Kise asked him to practice, who rarely ever called Kise by his name and instead used baka or dumbass, who seemed to not give a shit about anything, was complimenting him. More than that, he was  _reassuring_ him.   
  
"Why would I practice with you if I didn't think you were good?" Aomine asked, like he was conveying the most obvious thing in the world (And to him it was.)   
  
Kise didn't say anything for a little while; just stared at the form of the tanned rapper spread across the chair, silver chains that hung off of his jeans rattled when he shifted.   
  
Maybe Aomine had a grand impact on stage, and maybe Aomine was perfectly aware of this impact. But it was those little words, those little words that the rapper said whilst speaking his mind without a second thought, were what shook the ground beneath Kise's feet.   
  
Nothing felt greater than being recognized by your idol. Your idol who happened to be the most amazing person you have ever met and your idol who you had been lucky enough to hang around.   
  
The idol who had no idea of the grasp he had around Kise's emotions at that moment.   
  
It was silly, it was definitely silly. It was cliché as hell, even. But Kise saw it then, he saw that halo of white light people had talked about. He saw that halo light up around Aomine, blocking everything else in sight but him. And right then, all the messages Kise had been getting, all the articles that were being posted about him, all the congratulations and the texts of pure admiration and fascination that were being sent his way just disappeared.   
  
Everything was replaced by Aomine's presence, and Kise felt like he couldn't breathe properly when he finally comprehended his own thoughts.   
  
He didn't simply admire Aomine, he liked Aomine. It seemed childish on his part to phrase it in that way. But that was the truth. There's no other way to put it.   
  
Kise had developed a crush on Aomine Daiki.


	6. Soundwave

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey there! Thank you so much for continuing to read the story and giving me feedback ~ So this chapter is a little bit long, probably a bit more than a little bit long. Nonetheless, I hope you enjoy it.

If there was one thing that didn't sit well with Kise, it was rushing. He'd always hated being late, even though he'd been recently finding himself in that position alot. Despite his attempts to make sure he set the alarm ahead of time, he ended up over-sleeping. Which was a direct result of staying up all night to pack. Which was also a direct result of not having packed earlier like he should have.    
  
It was a vicious cycle, really.   
  
His phone rang whilst he was in the middle of dumping a bunch of his lotions and colognes into a sports handbag. Reaching out across the pile of clothes strewn over his bed, Kise grabbed the vibrating dark blue rectangle off of the nightstand.   
  
"Aomineicchi! I'm almost done, just one minute."  
  
"Goddamn it Kise, you said that ten minutes ago. I'm getting sick of waiting in the car."  
  
"I know, I know," the blond rested the phone between his ear and shoulder, leaning his head to the side in order to keep it from falling as he talked. "Just give me a second."   
  
Towards the end of his sentence, Kise's voice choked. The blond coughed a couple of times to clear his throat.  
  
"Oi, you okay?"  
  
"Yeah, yeah I'm fine! I'll be right down." Kise hastily hung up and dropped his phone on the mattress.  
  
Truth was, he hadn't been feeling too fine ever since Miragen's last live show. The morning right after their performance, he woke up with a closed up throat. He could barely complete a couple of words without sounding like a strangled frog, but a few cups of tea had managed to take care of the problem. The blond had practiced regularly since then, and he had almost forgotten about the whole ordeal till he woke up thirty minutes ago.  
  
A dull ache settled in his throat, which made swallowing only slightly uncomfortable. However, Kise figured it was just a minor cold as a result of the seasonal change. In any case, it's nothing to worry about. All he needed to do was make sure to drink the largest amount of tea possible before tomorrow night.  
  
Tomorrow night. The mere thought of the upcoming event turned his nerves to an invigorated shaken mess. He was about to get onto a flight and travel to America for the first time in his life, and that would be the furthest he's ever been from home.  
  
The All-Star Soundwave was an annual event, hosted in New York, in which the highest rating bands on a global scale hold a joint performance. Nowadays, it was considered the most important event in the musical industry.   
  
Takao didn't fail to let him know that ever since this event was founded in the 1950s, no one has ever been able to enter after spending such a short time in the music world. He also told him that even though the point was to entertain the international masses and strengthen intercontinental relationships; bands took this as an opportunity to compete and prove their worth.  
  
The blond knew his brunette friend was only trying to comfort him, but his words had served to rile him up even more.   
  
In any case, there won't even be a tomorrow night if they missed the flight. Which they were fairly close to. Kise hurriedly threw the half-zipped sports handbag over his shoulder and grabbed the handle of his other suitcase.   
  
By some miracle, he succeeded in running down the stairs with the amount of luggage he was holding – only nearly tripping once.   
  
"What the hell? We're staying for less than a week," Aomine had been leaning against the car door with his hands shoved in the pockets of his baggy sweatpants. He took the handbag off of Kise's shoulder and tossed it in the car's trunk, then helped Kise lift up the over-sized suitcase and shoved it inside.   
  
"I know, which is why I packed light," Kise said as he got into the backseat. Aomine scoffed and got into the passenger seat, prompting Watashi to take them to the airport as fast as somewhat legally possible.  
  
Once they took off, Kise's phone blared for the umpteenth time that day.   
  
"How did you even manage to find a phone that loud?" Aomine winced at the sudden shrill sound; he already had a headache as a result of having to wake up so early. "Is it Akashi?"  
  
Kise shook his head, hurriedly typing a reply to the text he just received. "No, it's my friend, Takao Kazunari, remember? I told you about him before," he put his phone away after confirming the terminal location and flight number with his friend. "He's coming with us. You've no idea how excited he is, I'm 100% sure he's Midorimacchi's biggest fan. Remember when he met him the other day-"  
  
The rapper drowned out the chattering voice of his new bandmate, settling back in his seat and resting his head against the back of the leather seat. There it was again, that damn icchi. Why the fuck did Kise have to add it to names like that? What was so special about it anyways?  
  
Apparently not  _that_ much, since he ended up adding it to everyone's name and not only his. It pissed him off, and what pissed him off even more was the fact that the nickname didn't annoy him as much as the fact that Kise used it to address the others.   
  
"Aomine-san, we're here," Watashi's voice intercepted his thoughts as the car pulled up to a toll gate by the airport.  
  
-  
  
The All-Star Soundwave stadium didn't only exceed Kise's expectations; it balled them into a crumbled mess and threw them in a flaming trashcan.   
  
The place was gigantic, and the crowd was even more enormous. It was shaped like a sports arena, but around double the size of those used in pro leagues. Banners and digital billboards of all shapes and sizes were organized all around the entrance, with the names and symbols of the participating bands. Different flags lined up the entrance that led directly towards the stage areas. Tunnels connected the stage area to the private sections in which the dressing rooms for band members were located. There were around 42 groups participating, and Miragen were in the first string of the line-up and so it was their turn to perform on the opening day of the event – as the habit had always dictated.  
  
The area was closed off from fans up to two miles from all directions around the stadium earlier when the bands arrived, and so Kise wasn't prepared for the numbers that were now showing up.   
  
He was standing in a hallway with Takao. The Miragen dressing room was located on the fourth floor, and there was a window overlooking the seating areas and the blond watched as people piled in.   
  
"Holy shit, I would have never been able to land a ticket here if it weren't for you," Takao observed, seeing that literally every corner of space available was reserved.  
  
Kise nodded in response, taking a sip from the steaming cup of coffee in his hand.   
  
Just then, a loud voice echoed through the walls of the hallway. Both boys glanced towards the source of the sound to see five figures walking down the hall, one of them talking in an obnoxiously loud tone to the one next to him who was smirking in response.  
  
"The Uncrowned Kings," Takao muttered under his breath, pointing them out to Kise who again nodded.  
  
"I know, I've heard a couple of their songs online, but I didn't know they'd be here," he said, eyeing the band members as they walked along.  
  
"Their songs dominate the top 10 hard rock hits list these days," The brunette leaned against the railing, his back now to the window. "Kiyoshi Teppei, Hanamiya Makoto, Mibuchi Reo, Hayama Katarou and Nebuya Eikichi. Genius music, too brutal though."  
  
Kise's eyes trailed after the band members who were clad in training suits as they walked into their own dressing room which was across from Miragen's. None of them acknowledged the boys. Except for the tall brown haired one who bowed his head forward just a little in greeting before disappearing into the room.  
  
"If you ask me, he doesn't belong with them," Takao commented when the door closed, turning back to face the window. He was far too restless.  
  
"That was Kiyoshi, right?"  
  
"Yeah. Don't get me wrong, he's talented. Probably the most talented of that bunch, but he's too nice to be hanging out with them. You see him all the time in interviews being an absolute saint, and he's the most interactive with the fanbase," Takao continued, "You can tell it's not a media stunt even, it's all genuine. He's way too kind, and they're all pretty much asses to their crowd. Especially Hanamiya."  
  
"How do you know so much about every single band member of every single band like that?" Kise asked, a grin across his face as he finished the rest of his coffee.  
  
"I just love music, and I'm observant," His friend replied with a grin of his own.  
  
Kise laughed and walked across the hall to toss the empty coffee cup into the garbage can, only to be stopped by a person who was walking from the opposite direction.  
  
"If it isn't the pampered pretty boy, Kise Ryouta."  
  
The blond looked up to see a male with braided grey-hair and a smug look on his features staring back at him. He was startled at first, but his expression quickly turned from shock to carefully concealed irritation.  
  
"Haizaki," Kise gritted his teeth, subconsciously taking a step back. He hadn't seen his middle school classmate in over three years now, and he had honestly thought he'd never see him again. Or atleast hoped he wouldn't.  
  
"You're just everywhere, aren't ya?" Haizaki's voice was flat and unnerving, and the smugness in his dark eyes remained intact.  
  
"Is everything okay?" Takao asked, taking a couple of steps towards were Kise stood and regarded the grey-haired boy with a curious gaze.  
  
"Everything's perfect, just like blondie over here," Haizaki replied, maintaining his eye contact with Kise. His words took on an intentionally emphasized tone of disgust. "I'll see you out there,  _Ryouta._ "  
  
With that, Haizaki turned around and walked into the Uncrowned Kings' dressing room, slamming the door shut behind him.  
  
"You know him?" Takao asked, looking at Kise with a raised eyebrow.  
  
"Knew. He was with me in school," Kise's voice sounded distant and he stayed in the same spot he'd been standing in before Haizaki left. "Didn't think I'd see him here though."  
  
"I think he's the new back-up vocalist for TUK, I've heard rumors they got someone new."  
  
"Oh."  
  
"Ryouta, come on, it's time to get ready," Akashi's voice ended the conversation before Takao got the chance to ask more questions about the interaction he'd just witnessed, and Kise was all too glad to excuse himself and slip away from that hallway.  
  
-  
  
"Miragen! Mira-gen! Miragen!"  
  
The crowd's roar was deafening; it coursed through Kise's veins and vibrated his very bones. Although it wasn't the blond's first concert performance, it was indeed the biggest by all measures. The arena had been designed to fit over 150 thousand people, and all seats were taken. Not to mention the countless cameras positioned at each corner, zooming in and out with hovering mic stands travelling across the area to cover the panoramic effect of the sound.  
  
In the center of it all, there were two stages positioned. The custom of the All-Star Soundwave was to set up two bands at once, and have them take turns singing songs. The crowd's cheering was the criteria to assess the quality of the performance.  
  
Official or not, it sure felt like a competition.  
  
The administration in charge of the event had paired up Miragen with the Uncrowned Kings, given that they both currently occupied the first and second place of the Asian Top 40 musicians list and have been keeping those positions for a little over a year as of this day.  
  
Since there were 14 bands performing that night, each pair were usually awarded half an hour of alternating songs. However, Miragen and the Uncrowned Kings had exceeded the limit by almost thirty minutes. The masses simply wouldn't stop demanding and cheering for more, and both bands were up for the challenge.  
  
Though he refused to admit it, even to himself, the blond was exhausted. His grip on the stand was getting slippery due to the clamminess of his palm, and his breathing was more rapid than usual. What made him feel more stressed was the fact that his bandmates appeared completely fine, as if they're taking an evening stroll down the park.  
  
But that stress didn't compare to the one created by Haizaki's presence just a limited number of feet across from him. The grey-haired hadn't shifted his gaze from Kise all throughout the entire hour they'd been there, and even though Kise repeatedly tried to ignore him, it was messing with his nerves.  
  
His line of thought was cut short when he heard Aomine's voice echo throughout the entire place. The crowd's cheering died down considerably in order to pay attention to the rapper's words. He was standing right at the edge of the stage, his eyes fixated on the general area where the Uncrowned Kings' stage was set.  
  
Verses seemed to roll right off of his tongue, streaming out of his mouth with the same ease air travelled in and out. His breath intakes weren't even audible against the mic, and his voice was as firm as the metallic material he held in his still hand. The other hand moved in sync with the words as always, and the flow of his raps snaked formlessly within the music provided by the Miragen's instruments.  
  
How did he do it? It was like he didn't think, he simply spoke. As if it were a basic function of his human body, no different than eating or drinking or sleeping.  
  
Kise broke into his own part of the song just as Aomine closed his verse, and he put his all into it. The crowd's noises supplied him with a weird static sort of energy, but it was what he needed to keep going. That and the fact that he simply couldn't mess up.  
  
It was easier said than done; Kise felt his own saliva sting his throat when he swallowed discreetly in between lines. Not for the first time that night, his vocal chords felt like they were tangled amongst eachother, creating a painful friction when he spoke. It took all his will power not to cough before his part was done but he achieved that, letting go of the mic and dropping his arm to his side when it was Aomine's turn again.  
  
The model brought his hand to cover his mouth and coughed away from the mic's sound range, leaning away from the crowd for a second. He took advantage of the fact that Aomine's last verse of the song had an intense rhythm and so all eyes were on the blue-haired rapper, giving him enough room to break out of character for a moment.  
  
Ofcourse, it didn't go unnoticed by his bandmates, or by the pair that sat in the VIP balcony area nearest to the stage. Takao nudged Kagami and pointed at Kise, and the crimson-haired boy frowned in response.  
  
"Kise-kun?" It was Kuroko who spoke, his voice barely a whisper. Due to the back-up guitarist's low presence, he was able to move near Kise without drawing attention to himself. The music was too loud for Kise to hear him, and the blond was already too caught up in his own panic to even notice him.  
  
Because Aomine was closing up his verse for the second time, which meant Kise had to intercept. He swallowed a few more times, and it was like his throat was scraped by sandpaper that was later set on fire and left there to burn his vocal chords. Nonetheless, there was no time for him to deal with that. He sung into the mic, his voice sounding much rougher than usual. Thankfully, he recalled a video he'd seen where the singer was performing with a cold and he managed to hit the notes in the same way that singer had done. There was an exceptionally high octave near the end of this particular song, and Kise gathered up every single ounce of strength in his voice to hit it. He fell short, but the mistake was barely audible since the music picked up right as he did so, covering it up expertly.  
  
Cheering, screaming and squealing erupted as soon as the song was over. Everyone was on their feet, jumping and throwing their hands in the air whilst shouting the Miragen's members' names. Kise breathed a sigh of relief; he'd gotten away with it.  
  
Well, for the most part. Once they were done, the lights dimmed and both bands moved to exit the stage. It was clear that Miragen had received the most cheering, and the Uncrowned Kings begrudgingly walked past them as they all headed away from the stage and towards the tunnel.  
  
Except for one who stayed behind, falling into step with Kise before anyone else had the chance to check on the blond. It was all happening way too fast for Kise's mind to wrap around, and the heat along with his throat pain weren't doing wonders for his concentration.  
  
"You think no one heard you fuck up, brat?" Haizaki spoke, keeping his voice low at first so only Kise would hear.  
  
Kise closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He wanted to respond, but the simple act of opening his mouth hurt.  
  
"You're fucking shit, you know that? You've always been shit, all you can do is be a copy, and you can't even copy right," Haizaki took Kise's silence as an opportunity to go on, and right then they were out of the noisy area and into the tunnel.  
  
Akashi, Midorima, Murasakibara and Kuroko had already walked up ahead to avoid any interaction with the media as usual. However, Aomine picked up on Haizaki's words and turned around, regarding the grey-haired boy with an incredulous look. "Who the fuck are you?"  
  
"I wasn't addressing you, ganguro," Haizaki replied with a scowl, "Stay out of it."  
  
Kise wanted a hole to magically appear beneath his feet and swallow him, or to swallow Haizaki. Whatever could make this ordeal come to a stop.  
  
"Fuck off, you all lost, just take it like a man and leave," Aomine responded. To his right side, the Uncrowned Kings (Save for Kiyoshi who had stayed behind to talk to the crowds) observed with a general outlook of disinterest. It wasn't the first time they'd seen Haizaki argue with someone.  
  
Haizaki grinned, "How about you stop sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong? I'm talking to this fake bleach blond excuse of a human being here, not you."  
  
Kise's blood boiled and his face heated up. He opened his mouth once more to speak, and the words came out no louder than a grunt, sending him into a full-blown coughing fit.  
  
"Pathetic," Haizaki shook his head, his nose upturned in revulsion.  
  
Akashi stopped in his tracks near the end of the tunnel, prompting everyone else to stop as well. In that same exact moment, Aomine had moved so he was now standing between Kise and Haizaki. There were no more words exchanged, just a tanned fist connecting with the grey-haired boy's face. A loud cracking noise rung throughout the tunnel, indicating that Aomine had broken Haizaki's nose.  
  
No one in the vicinity moved for a few minutes, the startling nature of Aomine's action successfully causing them all to freeze. Kise gasped, inaudibly due to his throat, immediately placing his hand over Aomine's shoulder to pull him back from Haizaki as the tanned male was about to deliver yet another punch. He glanced back, his eyebrows furrowed and his jaw set in impatient anger.  
  
Kise shook his head, pointing his finger to his throat indicating that he couldn't speak. Before anything else could happen, Akashi had already crossed the space back down the hall again. "Alright, that's it, let's go," he said, breaking the silence that was heaved upon the tunnel like a blanket. Haizaki was doubled over; his hand over his nose that was freely bleeding down his lips and chin. He snarled but didn't retaliate, or more accurately didn't have time to as Akashi has pushed both Aomine and Kise down the hallway and away from Haizaki and the Uncrowned Kings.  
  
-  
  
Aomine knocked on the wooden hotel room door a couple of times then stood by, shifting his weight onto his right leg. There was a yellow mug in his hand which contained green tea, and he held onto it as carefully as he possibly could despite the liquid's incredibly hot temperature.  
  
Two minutes and there was no response. He knocked again then opted for trying the handle; it shifted under the weight of his grip, allowing him inside.  
  
Baka. Just because they were in some high-end hotel, it didn't mean he shouldn't still lock the door. He made a mental note to tell Kise just that.  
  
Who he couldn't find in the vicinity of the room once he walked in. The bed was perfectly made, as if no one had even stood near it. Kise's bags were propped against the door; one of them zipped open with a few items spilling out.  
  
"Yo. Kise?" Aomine called, again he was greeted by nothing. The blue-haired boy moved further into the room, and finally located his bandmate. The latter was standing out in the small balcony, his arms crossed over the handrail. From this angle, Aomine could see just why Kise was a model. Even what was supposed to be a thoughtless casual pose looked straight out of a magazine, and he would have stood by and looked on for a few more minutes had the blond not turned around.   
  
"Aomineicchi," Kise mouthed, his voice a notch lower than a whisper. He sighed and tried to talk again when Aomine stopped him.  
  
"Shut up, dumbass, the doctor said you can't talk for a while," he stepped into the balcony, and held out the mug for Kise. "Here, take this."  
  
Kise's lips stretched into one of his thousand megawatts smiles and he reached out for the mug, mouthing a thank you to the rapper.  
  
His eyes told a different story, however, Aomine could see the reddish small veins crawling at the corners of the whites around Kise's golden orbs.   
  
Once Akashi had pulled Aomine and Kise away from the Uncrowned Kings, he called a car to immediately come and take them to the hotel they were staying in. He also contacted a doctor to check up on Kise.  
  
Whenever anyone would try to bring up what just happened, the red-haired keyboard player would put a stop to the conversation. It was nothing to be discussed at this time, and they should just be thankful no media personnel was there to cover it. What held importance then was ensuring that Kise would be alright, as the blond kept on coughing relentlessly.   
  
The ride to the hotel didn't take long, and the doctor was already waiting for them when they arrived. She checked up on Kise and informed them that he had put on too much strain on his voice as of late, and his vocal chords weren't prepared to handle that. He'd been ignoring his singing's effect on his health, which led to an inflamed throat.  
  
She then added that it could have been much worse, but right now the blond's condition was manageable. All he needed to do was not speak for atleast five days, and take the prescribed medicines she listed out for them.   
  
Aomine had been wanting to ask Kise who the fuck that braided bastard was, and who the fuck did he  _think_ he is to talk like that, but was refraining all night since they were constantly surrounded by people. And now he couldn't really ask him without eliciting a response from Kise, which would defy the whole point of not talking.  
  
"Thank you," Kise coaxed out, sipping on the tea. "For earlier I mean, with Haizaki."   
  
"Fucking hell, stop talking," Aomine leaned his back against the handrail so he could face Kise who had gone back to leaning over in the exact same position.   
  
"But-" A small cough, "You didn't have to do it, so thank you."  
  
Aomine let out a loud sigh, "He was running his mouth, so I shut him up," he frowned, "And you need to shut up too."  
  
"He went to-to middle school with me," Kise lowered his voice even more, "And he'd always hated me. Used to say I took his spotlight, beat me up once."  
  
He kept his sentences short enough to convey the story without using too many words.  
  
"Midorima said he'd tried to audition for us at one point, but Akashi rejected him because his voice was too raw," Aomine recalled the Miragen's comments earlier when the doctor was talking privately to Akashi and Satsuki.  
  
"That explains his words today then," Kise mumbled, his lips concealed behind the mug's rim.   
  
The rapper watched as Kise set the mug down on the railing and looked ahead, his grip tightened only a tad around the edge of the handrail.  
  
"It's not true," Aomine stared ahead at a random point over the balcony's glass door.  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"It's not true, what he said. You're none of these things."  
  
Kise stood straighter, turning so that he was looking at Aomine. The rapper met his gaze out of the corner of his piercing blue eyes.  
  
"Aomineicchi-"  
  
The first one to note their proximity was Aomine. It hadn't been deliberate, but he'd found that Kise's face was all but a couple of inches away from his as they talked. Perhaps it was because he was reflexively leaning close to him in order to be able to hear him better.  
  
All in all, that was the least of the blue-haired boy's concerns at the moment.  
  
The drive behind his action didn't fully register in his mind before he decided to go through with it, and he closed the already small distance. The movement itself was neither fast nor particularly confident; his eyes strayed for a second over to Kise's lips then back up again to meet a pair of widened light hazel eyes.  
  
The blond's eye color was different up close. Scientifically, eyes reflect light off of objects to provide the sense of vision. But Kise defied that logic; with almost no light around, his eyes appeared as if they had their own internal supply of electricity. They lit up with a spark that spread all over the faint hazel lines lined proportionally around his irises, and damn, Aomine never paid to detail this much in his entire life.  
  
 _Boys weren't supposed to be this pretty._  
  
The blond's lips parted only a fraction, but he didn't move away. If anything, Aomine felt like Kise had leaned just a little closer to him too.  
  
And then it happened.  
  
The rapper's chapped lips met a full well-looked after pair, the contrast between their textures made the hairs on the back of his neck stand. A shiver that had nothing to do with the chilled wind blowing around them travelled through his body, accompanied at the very same time with a surge of heat that shot up his veins in a head-spinning speed.  
  
Kise's eyes fluttered half-shut, he slid his hand across the railing so the tip of his fingers rested over Aomine's tanned forearm and the rapper could swear he felt his own blood react to the touch. It raced along to his chest, picking up the pace of his heartbeat. His body had just become a mixing board with the tempo set on maximum.  
  
A clatter interrupted their short-lived kiss, the cause of which was the fact that the yellow mug had just been knocked off the railing. Kise was as startled as someone who got shocked awake out of an unexpected nap, and Aomine was breathless.  
  
It's absurd to think that with this amount of open air around them, the rapper's lungs felt as if they had been denied the simple right of breathing for hours. They burned with an intensity that matched the rapid rate at which his heart banged within his chest cavity.  
  
"I'm-I'm sorry that-It fell-I mean-It just-I didn't see it-" Kise was spluttering, his voice broke towards the last few words and he coughed again.  
  
Aomine shook his head, his blue eyes widened as he stared on at Kise with a mixture of disbelief and wonder. Never had he expected he could become so aware of every nerve ending in his body in that way, but it happened just now. And it happened because he had just kissed Kise.  
  
He just kissed Kise.  
  
"Stop talking," Aomine managed to say, not trusting his own voice to remain steady if he tried to utter any more words. He didn't exactly trust himself at all at that point, period.  
  
"I should go," the rapper quickly detached himself from the wall, straightening the edges of his loose shirt, "You need rest."  
  
He didn't allow Kise the privilege of time to reply as he turned and marched right into the room, brushing past the bed and walking straight for the door.  
  
"Night," Aomine called out to a confused speechless blond as he turned the knob and slipped outside. Once he heard the audible click that indicated the door closed behind him, he leaned against the wall by its frame.  
  
The enthralling energy racing throughout his blood was mixing with a pricking sense of nervousness, and he concentrated on breathing in and out slowly.  
  
He really did just kiss Kise.


	7. Electricity

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for the feedback and the kudos, you're all great ~ I really enjoyed writing this chapter, I hope you like it! Warning: May contain mature/mildly explicit content. Reader discretion advised.

Aomine Daiki didn't blink that night.  
  
He had flopped down on the bed the minute he walked back into his own room after leaving Kise's, and had stared up at the ceiling non-stop ever since. His mind replayed the kiss like a tattered tape in a broken cassette, and he couldn't for the life of him figure out his reasoning behind doing what he had done.  
  
Aomine never thought of his sexuality; he had already established an interest in big breasts ever since middle school and simply assumed he was straight based on the his ever-growing pornographic magazine stash.  
  
But there was no denying it; he was attracted to Kise. Otherwise, he wouldn't have made a move on him. Damn it. It could be because Kise had a feminine appearance, his body is lean and his face is just too pretty with those long dark blond lashes and those wide golden eyes.  
  
Still, Kise was clearly a guy. He did have muscles that Aomine could see when Kise wore short-sleeves, and he was also fairly tall with a defined shoulder set.  
  
And all those aspects still contributed to Aomine's attraction to him. He still felt curious about what it'd be like to grip that defined shoulder set, or to run his hand over Kise's arm muscles.  
  
To feel Kise's soft skin. Or to feel his way too soft lips again.  
  
Alright, so maybe he was gay, Aomine didn't really understand sexualities. All he knew about it was that it was a complex and diverse term, but he never bothered with it. It didn't affect his music, so why should he care?  
  
The white sheets suffered the effect of the rapper's thought process, and by the morning they were in a crumbled heap by the foot of the bed. He was lying backwards on the bed, his feet propped up over the headboard. His phone vibrated on the nightstand but he didn't move to answer it, choosing instead to continue convincing himself that he was asleep. There were no events scheduled today as far as he was concerned, and sight-seeing didn't exactly capture his interest. It was set; he was going to spend the entire day in bed.  
  
That was until the hotel room's phone obnoxiously rang, banging against his already-sensitive-from-the-lack-of-sleep skull.  
  
A string of creative profanity interwove its way around his brain, the likes of which he thought he might be arrested for if he ever recorded it in a rhyme. Muttering said string under his breath, he bent his body at an awkward angle to reach the phone with minimal effort.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Daiki. Be in my room in 15 minutes, everyone is invited for breakfast."  
  
Akashi. Fuck. If it were anyone else, he could have hung up in their face. He really would have. But Akashi. He really wasn't up for dealing with the wrath of the red-head if he tried to pull a suicidal stunt like that.  
  
"Cool."  
  
The tanned boy groaned as he shifted so that he was sitting on the edge of the bed, his face buried in his hands. So  _now_ sleep decides to finally dawn on him. Typical.  
  
When he walked into Akashi's hotel room 20 minutes later, he felt even more drained. It was as if someone had pulled the plug that supplied energy to his brain abruptly, and he was as close to a corpse as any living organism could possibly get while still breathing.  
  
His face was concealed by the hood of his university sweatshirt, and a dark blue bandana was tied around his head. Everyone was already huddled around the table, a coffee pot being the focus of all their activities. It seemed that they were all affected by jetlag like he was.   
  
 _And yes it was jetlag, nothing else kept him awake but jetlag._  
  
Well, almost everyone. Kise stood at the counter by the window, his phone pressed to his ear as he chattered away. He was dressed in animal print pants and a bright orange t-shirt, his bangs tied back with a hair-pin. He moved as he talked, piling miniature amounts of breakfast food onto a plate.  
  
He glowed with an extravagant energy that made it almost painful for Aomine to look at him directly. The rapper settled around the table, muttering a couple of words as greeting before immediately grabbing the first item of food he could reach.  
  
"Aomineicchi, morning."  
  
Aomine looked up to find Kise taking a seat on the side of him and as soon as his gaze met Kise's, a faint pink color dusted the latter's cheeks. The rapper felt an unsettled flutter in the pit of his stomach once he spotted it, and he broke the eye contact.  
"Yeah," he stuffed his face with toast, cursing himself internally for his response. Yeah? What kind of person responded to a Goodmorning with yeah? Something was definitely up with him; it was like his brain was yanked out of his head and replaced with a pile of dog shit.  
  
From the other end of the table, Akashi regarded the pair with an inquisitive gaze. However, neither of the boys noticed him as they were too busy having a stare contest with their respective food plates.  
  
Aomine reached over to grab some cheese, which conveniently enough happened to be positioned right next to Kise's plate. His thumb brushed against Kise's ring and pinkie fingers in pursuit of his target, and he yanked his hand back with a roughness that almost knocked out the mug of coffee resting between them.  
  
The pink dust over Kise's cheek deepened into a red darker than the color of the strawberries set in another bowl on the vast table, and his gaze flickered left and right, seemingly having no idea exactly where he should be looking.  
  
The rapper cleared his throat out loud, and proceeded to pretend as if his cheese sandwich was the most captivating thing on the planet.  
  
 _Get your shit together, Daiki._  
  
"You shouldn't talk," Aomine found himself saying, without looking up from his plate.  
  
"What?" Kise's voice squeaked, and he slowly looked up at the tanned male beside him.  
  
"You shouldn't talk because of your throat."  
  
"I didn't talk.." Kise whispered, and took a sip of his coffee to try and ease his voice back into a normal tone again.  
  
"You were talking on the phone when I walked in, and you said goodmorning," Aomine almost slapped his palm against his forehead, this was disastrous.  
  
"But it's common courtesy to say goodmorning when someone walks into a room in the morning-" Towards the end of the blond's sentence, his voice faded out into a hushed incoherent croak.  
  
"Damn it, baka. Shut up," Aomine slammed down the remainder of his sandwich back on the plate, standing up with no regard to his poor chair that was put on the verge of toppling over.  
  
"Mine-chin, why are you angry at breakfast?" The pair had completely forgotten about the existence of three other boys in the room, who were all intently observing them.  
  
"What?! Tch, don't say meaningless shit like that, Murasakibara," Aomine shook his head, turning his back to the table, "I'm gonna step out for a cigarette."  
  
"You don't smoke," Midorima adjusted his glasses over his nose then returned to precisely cutting up his pancake into small equal pieces.  
  
"Yeah? Well-Fuck you."  
  
Nice comeback, the rapper thought to himself. His lingual level matched that of a primitive monkey this morning, which was ironic for someone whose lifelong trade was vocabulary manipulation.  
  
Before he could make an even bigger laughing stock of himself, Aomine trudged out of the hotel room and into the hallway. There had to be something wrong with all of them, they were acting too strange this morning.  
  
"Aomineicchi, wait," Kise's choked out voice was low, but the emptiness of the narrow strip in which they stood made that voice echo loud enough for Aomine to hear.  
  
The rapper paused in his tracks, turning around with an overly theatrical arched eyebrow on his expression in an attempt to act normal. Why did he have to  _act_ normal again? He  _should_ be normal.   
  
"Um-Uh-" Kise stood in the middle of the hallway as if he had suddenly forgot the reason why he was there, the tip of his tongue poked absentmindedly at the corner of his mouth as he tried to re-gather his thoughts.  
  
 _No one should ever have the power to possess this amount of sex appeal without doing anything._  
  
"I was on the phone with Kurokocchi," Kise said, out of nowhere, and Aomine was legitimately surprised at his choice of words.  
  
"Tetsu wasn't in there?"  
  
Kise shook his head, "He's having breakfast with Kagamicchi."  
  
 _So now Bakagami got that icchi added to his name too?_  
  
"Oh."  
  
"Aomineicchi..About..Um..Last night," Kise started, his fingers moved to press against his throat as he swallowed. He pressed his lips together as his eyebrows furrowed in momentary pain.  
  
"You really need to stop talking," Aomine stopped him, and not only for health-related reasons. He breathed in, "I'm-I'm sorry about it..It was out of line."  
  
"No! I mean, no, like, it's..it's alright, there's um, nothing to worry about, it was alright," Kise spoke with a rapidity that didn't fit the jaggedness of his voice. "Well, it was really more than alright-But-I mean-What I'm trying to say is-"  
  
The flutter made a re-appearance in Aomine's stomach, and a wave of heat rushed to his face. Thank everything for dark skin and dimly lit walkways.  
  
"Do you wanna go get a drink, or whatever?"  
  
Kise stopped attempting to talk, his mouth hanging open mid-sentence. He had mustered enough courage at last to look straight at Aomine, who had been eyeing his Air Jordans with a forced sense of concentration.  
  
 "A drink? Yeah," The blond nodded, a smile decorating his features along with the same rose tint from earlier that day. "Yes, I do."  
  
-  
  
TO: AOMINEICCHI  
What's taking you so long?! Come onnn (╯_╰)   
  
Kise slipped his phone back into the pocket of his ripped black slim jeans, leaning against the bar with his elbows propped up on the glass high-counter. The past week had gone by in a flash, yet he distinctly remembered every single moment of it. Starting with the one where Aomine kissed him, his grip tightened around the non-alcoholic shot glass in his hand just at the mere memory. It sent a dizzying wave of frivolous adrenaline through him, and he could hardly believe it actually happened.  
  
The day directly following the kiss was spent out on the streets of New York. The blond and his bandmate managed to slip by unnoticed with a simple disguise, and so spent the day exploring the streets without a hassle. Surely, Aomine was extremely tired and over all detached when it came to observing the sights around him, but still it didn't make the day any less amazing than it was. They talked just about everything, Kise mainly leading the conversation but with Aomine contributing here and there. He didn't even remember what they said; just that he had droned on and on and that Aomine kept telling him to shut up because of his throat. He also remembered having been psyched about seeing the big city.  
  
That excitement couldn't compare to the one he felt at the fact that he was out with Aomine, for the sake of being out with no other obligations. Maybe, just maybe, it was a date. The rapper never specified that it was, but Kise liked to think it was. The days following the date had kept the pair apart as they were busy with post-concert coverage, then with a huge international press-conference, and finally with the flight back home. Aomine and Kise ended up on separate flights due to Kise having a different public appearance schedule than the rest of the band. His manager made him participate in more fan interactions in the United States to promote his modeling as well, so he arrived in Japan a day later than everyone else.  
  
Despite all that, Kise stayed in contact with Aomine. He frequently texted him, and much to his pleasant surprise, Aomine frequently texted back. The texts didn't divert from casual talk; complaining about the strain of publicity or discussing everyday things like food they've ate or movies they've seen. Nonetheless, his heart skipped a beat everytime he saw Aomine's name across his phone's screen. It was insane to think of just how fast his feelings for the rapper developed over the short period of time they have known eachother, how long has it been..? Seven months. Eight if he counted from the day he attended his first Miragen concert.  
  
"Ki-chan, what are you doing standing here?"  
  
Momoi stood infront of him, waving her hand before his face to get his attention. Kise blinked then focused his gaze on her, smiling.  
  
"I'm just having a drink," he raised the glass to his lips and downed the rest of it, setting it back on the table. His voice had returned to normal for the most part, and he was eager to sing again. Akashi had told him to take another week off, though, since he couldn't afford having something like that recur.  
  
"They're playing K-pop, I know you like it as much as I do, and none of the other guys would dance," Momoi said, pointing at the large dance floor behind them. They were having a private party in their studio building in celebration of the fact that Miragen had shattered more chart-topping records ever since the Soundwave. The event was attended by a bunch of Tokyo's VIP personnel, from singers to actors to models. The place was packed with swaying bodies as the music turned up even louder, blaring Kise's favorite Korean party music tracks.  
  
"Alright, let's go," Kise followed after their pink-haired manager onto the dance floor, and soon enough the music overtook him. At moments he was jumping up with the crowd, at other moments he was moving his hips in perfect timing with the music that moved through his bones. It had been a while since he could simply let go and allow the music to guide him without constraint and without sticking to specific choreography.  
  
Aomine had walked in only a couple of minutes ago; his eyes scanned the booths set by the entrance for a familiar face. He wasn't in the mood to socialize with people, and if it weren't for the fact that Kise had insisted he show up, he would have probably skipped the event altogether.  
  
It had been a long week, and a sleepless one at that. Jetlag continued to be the scapegoat for all his problems, as he refused to think of any other alternative. Primarily because he didn't understand how to approach such a thought.  
  
His gaze fell on a certain blond that stood in the middle of the area. Well, stood wasn't exactly the right term. Kise was dancing to a slowed down part of the song, his waist moved in a semi-circular motion as his hips controlled the rhythm of his dance. Needless to say, the rapper's blue eyes weren't the only pair fixed on the swaying model. All around him, people watched as Kise danced to the music, commenting on his style of dancing.  
  
And commenting on the way his body looked while he danced. Those latter comments didn't exactly sit well with Aomine.  
  
Just then, someone had handed Kise a mic. The music track was altered from blasting the song to playing the instrumental only version of it, and Aomine saw the blond smirk.  
  
Kise started singing along to the music, and Aomine was a little surprised by the fact that the blond knew enough Korean to be able to sing all the lyrics like that. His voice filled the room, and the DJ turned up the volume on the speakers. Everyone danced to Kise's karaoke, jumping along as the song escalated into a sped-up tempo and Kise hit one of his infamous high-pitched tones right before the beat dropped.  
  
Fucking idiot will never fucking learn.  
  
Aomine made his way through the moshing masses and walked towards the spot where Kise stood as the blond ended the verse and handed the mic back to the DJ. "Come here," Aomine wrapped his hand around Kise's wrist without applying too much pressure, dragging him away from the crowds and towards one of the empty booths.  
  
"Aomineicchi! You're here! Wait-Why-I was just about to sing another song! Nehhh ~"  
  
Aomine scowled, letting go of Kise's wrist, "Your level of stupidity amazes me," he shook his head, "You're not supposed to sing yet, baka."  
  
"But my voice is all better now.." Kise's bottom lip jutted out in a pout, "You heard me just now, I hit that note right on, didn't falter!"  
  
"It's not the question of whether you can, it's the question of whether you should," he retorted, "I'm surprised Akashi didn't kill you yet."  
  
"Akashicchi had to leave early for a business meeting."  
  
"Ah, that's why."  
  
Kise pouted once more, "Aomineicchiiii I wanna sing."  
  
Aomine didn't reply to Kise as he began rummaging through the pocket of his leather jacket, then his pants pockets. Eventually, he produced a bottle of pills and held it out to Kise.  
  
"You forgot your medicine at the studio," he said, handing the bottle over to a stunned Kise.  
  
"Thank you, I totally forgot to take it today," Kise took the bottle and placed it in his own blue jacket's pocket.  
  
"Because you're a baka," Aomine flicked Kise's forehead, earning himself a third pout from the blond.  
  
"Hey!"  
  
"Wanna get out of here?" Aomine suggested, then immediately added, "It's too crowded."   
  
"And go where? The whole building is packed with guests," Kise commented, looking around.  
  
"Not the whole building," A small smirk tugged at the corner of Aomine's lips. He looked through the crowd to see that Satsuki was now standing with Kuroko and Kagami, then gave her a quick wave.  
  
"What do you mean?" Kise inquired, following his line of gaze and waving at Momoi as well, remembering that he should apologize for suddenly leaving the dance floor.  
  
"Just follow me." The rapper's words distracted Kise from following through with his thought, and he walked after him towards the area's exit.  
  
-  
  
"Are you sure Akashicchi won't get mad?"  
  
Kise repeated the question for the second time, anxiously looking around as they reached the top of the staircase that led up to the fifth floor of the studio building. This part was closed off to everyone, including the Miragen members, and has been this way ever since they formed the band and began using the skyscraper as headquarters/living area.  
  
"Akashi is away like you said, he won't find out," Aomine brushed off Kise's concerns, even though he wasn't entirely comfortable or sure of his own idea. It didn't do well to go against Akashi's wishes, except that this technically wasn't going against Akashi's wishes. The red-head never specifically told them not to go there; he just said that this part was sealed. And sealed is a pretty vague term.  
  
There was a small bulb fixed in the ceiling above them, emitting a faint yellow light from behind a glass cone cover. The first thing they both set eyes on was a waiting lounge that consisted of a couch, a table and two armchairs placed near a closed window. The entire area seemed deserted for the most part and it was deadly quiet. They could no longer hear the thumping from the music downstairs, as if the floor here was soundproof like their studios.  
  
Aomine made his way over to the couch and took a seat, settling down into the cushioned material and resting his head back. Kise hesitated, assessing the situation and trying to see if there were any security cameras around. His inner overexcitement at being around Aomine won over his concern, however, and he sat down beside the rapper.  
  
"How come we're not allowed here?"  
  
"I think this used to be a business area before and it's just out of order now," Aomine shrugged, "Doesn't matter. It's calm."  
  
"And isolated," Kise added, light golden eyes searching for and finding a pair of azure one that stared directly into them.  
  
His cheeks automatically reddened, and he wondered if Aomine had some magic that allowed him to elicit such a response with a mere look.  
  
Up close, he could see the sharp edges of Aomine's features; and the way his tanned skin perfectly outlined his sculpted upper body. Even with the presence of a leather jacket, Kise could see the rapper's triceps, biceps and forearm muscles.  
  
An incomprehensible force of gravity pulled him forward towards Aomine, which resulted in Aomine reacting by closing some of the distance between them as well.  
  
Silently, their lips found eachother. It was more natural the second time around, lacking a percentage of the awkwardness of the first time. A spark initiated at their contact, and Kise had to grip the edge of the couch to keep still. A bittersweet taste hung over his lips as they melted into the kiss of the rapper's rough and chapped ones.  
  
He could feel every single crack in Aomine's lips, and everytime they brushed against the sensitive skin of Kise's own, the blond was re-charged with an entirely fresh wave of vigor.  
  
Faint pressure over his side almost caused Kise to gasp against Aomine's lips. The rapper had his hand rested over Kise's hip, and Kise felt the tip of Aomine's tongue brush against his lower lip. It wasn't like this has been the first time for Kise to kiss anyone before. Hell, Aomine hadn't been the first guy Kise kissed. But this was different.  
  
Because right now he felt like he could light up the entire city's skyline with the amount of electricity buzzing within him, his heart thumped with a violent throbbing and it was all too extreme for Kise to handle. A low moan escaped the confines of his throat, and he could hear Aomine's soft groan in response.  
  
The rapper moved his lips to kiss the corner of Kise's, then ran his mouth over the edge of Kise's jawline. Kise leaned so that his back rested against the couch's arm, his eyes fluttering shut. Short racing breaths echoed within the walls around them, and Kise wrapped his arm over Aomine's shoulder. His long slim fingers curled around the nape of Aomine's neck just as the latter's lips found their way to the base of Kise's throat, leaving a very light kiss that was followed by another one right over Kise's collarbone.  
  
Kise let out a small noise that was a mix between Aomine's nickname and a stretched out moan, and Aomine pressed his lips back to Kise's once more.  
  
He felt like he could lose every ounce of worry that had clouded his mind, that he could lose every single thought in his mind, right then and there. Aomine's touch was on a different level from anything that he had ever felt before, and it was unfair that the rapper was so good at even this.  
  
The sound of footsteps travelled to Aomine's ears and he paused, pulling away barely half an inch from Kise and opening his eyes to glance around. Hushed voices ensued, following by the sound of a metallic clank.  
  
"Someone's coming up the stairs," Aomine muttered under his breath, "Shit, shit. We need to move."  
  
It took Kise a few seconds to snap out of his momentary daze and fall back into the grips of reality; he sat a little straighter up and looked to his side, spotting an open ledge that overlooked a miniature balcony.  
  
"There," he pointed, and Aomine was off of him in a minute. He grabbed Kise's hand and pulled him up along with him, half-shoving him towards the ledge. The blond almost tripped, but Aomine caught him by tightening his hold on his hand, interlocking their fingers together.  
  
They managed to sneak into the balcony and close the ledge's double doors then quickly sit on the ground, their backs against the doors with their heads bowed forward so they wouldn't show through the glass frame. Both boys were panting, and Aomine kept his hold on Kise's hand. The rapper shifted so that he could sneak a peek through the glass, seeing two security bouncers clad in suits climb up the stairs then make another turn to continue going further up. After two minutes, the bouncers were out of sight.  
  
"We're safe," Aomine said, breathing a sigh of relief and looking at Kise with a lopsided grin.  
  
"That was close, I thought no one came up here! You said so!"  
  
"You looked so scared, you should have seen your face when they were coming up the stairs, you were terrified."  
  
Kise punched Aomine's shoulder with his free hand, not putting any strength whatsoever into the gesture. It earned him a loud laugh from Aomine, who let go of his hand then ruffled his blond hair, pushing his head forward a little in the action.  
  
"Such a coward," Aomine teased.  
  
"A coward that will race you downstairs before they come back, and kick your ass in said race."  
  
Aomine leaned his head to the side a little bit, his eyes narrowing whilst the grin remained on his face. "You're on, blondie."   
  
With that, Aomine was on his feet. He pushed open the doors to the balcony, and took off in a sprint. Kise followed close behind, wondering deep in the recesses of his mind whether he was in some sort of a dream. He had to be, there was no way all of this was happening. His body felt as if it contained a horde of shooting stars speeding across the sky that was his own chest. That definitely had to be unhealthy.  
  
But he didn't care, because he was so close to Aomine. So close to the boy that he held more feelings for than he could understand.  
  
The boy who had earlier given him a medicine bottle under the false claim of having found it in the studio. But Kise had been forbidden from entering the studio all week, and moreover Kise had lost his own medicine bottle in the airport two nights before.  
  
The boy who found that out and bought him a new one, just to make sure he continues to take his medicine.  


	8. Jealous

"Cut, roll out camera 3 and replay the footage on screen 5-"   
  
The director's voice filled the vicinity of the set; giving out orders to the crew. Kise stepped off the mini stairs that separated the main filming area from the rest of the set, stretching his arms behind his back. They had been filming a video clip for the number one hit song of their latest album; Neon Night.   
  
One of the director's assistants made her way to him as soon as he was done, holding an iPad in her hand and scrolling through it.   
  
"Alright, so you'll go in to have make-up removed and we'll break an hour for lunch. After that, you're in make-up again then we'll take it up from the roof scene with Aomine-san," she said, reading off of the screen, "Director's orders."   
  
Kise barely had time to nod in agreement before he was ushered towards the make-up area. They were working on a tight schedule, and everyone was rushing to meet the deadlines set forth by the director as this was the last week of filming.   
  
There were two models sitting on a small couch by the corner of the make-shift room set up for make-up near the filming set, and they were both too busy conversing away to notice that there was an addition to the room. Kise simply walked ahead towards his seat infront of a mirror, the girl who ushered him into the area standing beside him and starting to go through the items in her large bag.   
  
"I know, it's completely absurd if you think about it," one of them was saying in a high shrill voice, to which the other one nodded. They were both dressed in long flowing red gowns, whilst Kise was dressed in a plaid pajama-style pants along with a black shirt and a white and black patterned robe.   
  
"It's not like it was totally unexpected," the other replied to her, crossing one leg over the other, "I mean, Aomine-chan does strike you as the type of guy who would do something like that."   
  
At the mention of Aomine's name, Kise found that his stomach did a miniature flip. The feeling itself was rapidly becoming a natural reflex to his body, as normal as accidentally touching a hot pot of coffee and retracting his hand away. He wasn't exactly fond of eavesdropping, but his curiosity got the best of him, so he tuned into the conversation as the girl beside him removed his ray-ban eye-glasses prop and began wiping away at the powder on his face.   
  
"It's not the first time he does that, you know, Mia-san told me last week that he did the same with her last summer," the short-haired model that had spoken first leaned her head against the back of the couch, her voice dropping into a still-audible whisper, "Ofcourse, she was drunk off her mind when she said that, but still, it's the truth, I'm sure."   
  
"Remember the Miragen Osaka tour 2012? I heard that he actually hooked up with three different back-up dancers on the same night," her friend replied, "And he never talked to any of them again."   
  
Kise gritted his teeth subconsciously, his hand tightened ever so slightly around the arm of his chair. It wasn't unnatural for people to spread rumors, he knew that. There was no guarantee that what they were saying had any credibility to it, in fact, it most likely didn't.   
  
However, a nagging voice in the back of his mind urged him to continue listening to the girls' conversation.   
  
"I wouldn't be surprised, I really wouldn't," the short-haired one sighed, brushing a few strands of her hair behind her ear, "It's not like I didn't know that a couple of months ago, I did, but still, I expected him to atleast say hi when he saw me today. He just brushed past me, as if he had no idea who I was."   
  
Her friend scoffed with an amused, almost smug, smirk. "Can't say you didn't have it coming, you shouldn't have slept with him," she said.   
  
The short-haired girl seemed to take offense at that statement, but ended up sighing again. "Hey, you would have done the same if you were in my place," she muttered, "He's hot."   
  
The friend nodded in agreement, unable to argue  _that_ point of view. "You should have known better anyways, besides," she adjusted herself on the couch, "It was-what? Fours months back? Who knows how many girls he hooked up with since then?"   
  
Before the girl had a chance to add anything, the director's assistant walked into the make-up area and called both girls out towards the filming area to do a repeat on some angles in previous scenes that the director wasn't entirely satisfied with. They both got up begrudgingly and trotted away with their heels clicking against the tiled floor, the topic of their conversation discarded.   
  
Four months back seemed all way too recent for Kise's liking, especially since he was now aware that he had started developing feelings for Aomine around that same time.   
  
Ofcourse, it would be unreasonable of him to assume that Aomine had felt the same about him ever since Day 1.   
  
_It would be unreasonable to assume that Aomine felt the same about him now._   
  
But if that were the case, then how could he possibly explain what had happened between them in the last couple of weeks? Only a few nights before they had, well, more than kissed. True, they didn't really talk about it after. But they didn't change the way they talked to eachother either, and Aomine definitely wasn't ignoring him or acting strange around him.   
  
At the same time, Aomine technically didn't call him the morning after. On the other hand, Aomine technically never called him. He was almost always the one to initiate text conversations, or to call up the rapper to hang out or practice or any other reason.   
  
He didn't have much more time to mull over the subject before the girl taking care of his make-up removal announced she was done and handed him a dark green coat with a fur collar, saying that he had to wear that in order to go for lunch. It was a standard procedure to wear over-sized coats whenever they stepped off the set to keep their outfits concealed prior to the premier of the video, in case any paparazzi were lurking around.   
  
The blond slipped on his converse and made his way out of the make-up area and towards the exit, heading for the cafeteria. Aomine had texted him back earlier saying he'd be there at lunch time, and Kise had conflicted feelings between happiness at finally getting to see him that day and over-all irritation at the conversation he'd just overheard.   
  
Once he walked into the cafeteria, he saw Aomine standing near the vending machine. Beside him, stood one of the back-up singers/models that was a part of the video. She was also dressed in one of the flowing red gowns, and she held a sharpie in her hand. On her face there was a large smile as she took Aomine's hand in hers and scribbled down something over his wrist.   
  
The blue-haired male glanced at the writing on his wrist then back at her, the look in his eyes never altering. He wore his usual expression, that expression that could only be described as that of someone on a faraway advanced planet regarding earth through a TV screen on a lazy Sunday morning.   
  
She finished writing over his skin and turned around, waving as she slowly walked away from him and out of the cafeteria.   
  
Aomine looked up when she was gone, seeing that Kise was standing by the other exit of the cafeteria; giving him some weird look that the rapper couldn't quite understand.   
  
"Yo, I almost didn't recognize you without the glasses," he grinned as he walked towards the blond, adapting a more relaxed demeanor, "You've been wearing them off the set way too much."   
  
"Yeah," Kise eyed the writing on Aomine's wrist, seeing that it was a phone number. The flip in his stomach returned, though this time it was more of an unpleasant lurch.   
  
 "You look tired," Aomine commented.   
  
"I don't have make-up on, that's why," Kise muttered, shoving his hands into the pockets of the fur-collared coat.   
  
"So? I've seen you without make-up before, it's irrelevant," The rapper shrugged, turning his attention to the vending machine and groaning.   
  
"Anyhow, there's nothing worth eating here, let's go buy something from the burger place across the street," he said, "We still have like 45 minutes or something before we have to be back here."   
  
Kise nodded absentmindedly, "Sure."   
  
Aomine looked at him for a moment, his eyebrows furrowed in slight confusion. His gaze then fell to his own wrist.   
  
"Aight, just give me a second, I need to wash my damn hand," he muttered, rubbing at the number till it was incomprehensible then turning to walk towards the restroom.   
  
At that, a smile made its way to Kise's lips before the blond even realized it. He stood up a little straighter, "I'll be   
waiting right here ~"   
  
-   
  
"And the slam DUNK."   
  
Aomine's voice rang throughout Kise's bedroom as he lifted both his arms up, a black Playstation 4 controller in his right hand. His lips split into a wide grin as he glanced up at the blond who was seated with his legs crossed on the bed, a pout already threatening to form over his features.   
  
"That's not fair play, you definitely cheated there," Kise protested, pointing at the plasma screen infront of them as Aomine put down the controller and made to stand up off of the floor.   
  
"You're just a sore loser who can't admit the fact that I just fucking owned you," the rapper replied, stretching his arms behind his back, "In your house, playing your new game." He picked up the CD case for the NBA 2k14 PS4 game and waved it before Kise's eyes.   
  
"I could take you on, I could," Kise knocked the CD case out of Aomine's hand then crossed his arms over his chest.   
  
"You said that four times today, and I proved you wrong all of those four times, because I am just that good," Aomine shrugged, flopping down on the bed beside Kise.   
  
"That's because you cheat."   
  
"You know that I don't, in fact, you know that basketball is-" The rapper didn't get a chance to finish his sentence as Kise's phone started ringing in its skull-shattering loud manner. Kise got up off of the bed and went to grab it, swiping his thumb across the touch screen to answer.   
  
"Kise speaking, yes, hey there," his voice took on a dramatically over-excited tone as he addressed whoever it was on the other side, and Aomine propped himself up on his elbows, leaning his head back and letting out a loud huff. It was most likely one of Kise's stupid fangirls who somehow manage to get his number; and Kise is too damn polite to ignore them or tell them to leave him the fuck alone.   
  
The call didn't last long, and Kise placed his phone back down on the desk after he was done.   
  
"You were saying?" Kise asked, resting his palm over the desk and looking at Aomine, "Sorry about that, one of my fans got my number off of a mutual friend and wanted to say hi."   
  
Aomine met his gaze, "Why do you keep answering their calls, anyways?"   
  
"Because," Kise was interrupted by a short 'Tin-tin' noise that indicated the arrival of a text message, and he quickly picked up his phone to check it and send a reply.   
  
"Because, uh, I want to be, nice," his reply came out in a distracted tone and a cut-up sentence, his attention half-focused on the phone as he talked to Aomine.   
  
The rapper rolled his eyes and sat up, looking around the room with a detached sort of interest. He had been here more than a few times, since Kise's family had a habit of travelling away on weekends and the blond usually couldn't join them due to work or college obligations. Out of that, a sort of an unspoken arrangement derived that Aomine would sleep over at his place every Saturday night and they'd spend Sundays together since they usually didn't have a busy schedule that day.   
  
"You don't have to be nice 24/7, fans don't expect you to be there all the time."   
  
"Still, I like to be there whenever I can be, and today I'm free, so why not?" Kise set his phone down and reclaimed his seat on the bed beside Aomine, "If anything, you should be there more for  _your_ fans."   
  
Aomine waved his hand in the air, "I'm doing that livecam thing tomorrow morning, that's more than enough for me," he nodded in agreement with himself.   
  
"Just one event isn't enough, Aomineicchi," Kise reprimanded, then glanced up at the clock hanging on the wall, "Anyways, it's almost seven, what do you wanna do? We wasted the whole day on video games."   
  
"You wasted your day, I won," Aomine smirked, his expression easing back to how it initially was before their day was interrupted by those rude fangirl calls.   
  
At the mention of further plans for the day, a sense of nervousness rose up within Aomine. He remembered that Satsuki was over at his place a couple of days back and she had forced him to watch one of those romantic comedy movies with her, as was her habit from time to time since they were children. In the movie, he'd seen the protagonist take the girl he liked out to a small sushi place that had a laid back vibe to it. He asked Satsuki if that had been a real place and she nodded, telling him it was a place that not many people knew about before the movie came out, and that it actually had pretty amazing food and service.   
  
Ever since then, he had been thinking about going there and telling Kise to come along with him. The whole idea appeared casual enough, no, the whole idea was casual. Why wouldn't it be casual? There was nothing wrong about simply asking someone to eat out somewhere. It'd be a nice change of pace for the both of them, and he figured they could eat there without getting too much public attention since it was a reclusive place.   
  
"There is this place-"   
  
Once more, Kise's Korean ringtone shook the desk upon which his phone was situated.   
  
"One second, hold that thought," Kise got up and hastily snatched the phone, picking up again and repeating the same scenario of the earlier conversation with that other fangirl.   
  
Exasperated, Aomine shook his head and laid back down, his head hitting the mattress with a thud as he cursed under his breath.   
  
This was extremely, preposterously, and just plain out entirely ridiculous.   
  
The blond stepped out into the hall as the call went on, taking an even longer time than the previous one. Aomine's patience was effectively stretched thin, and he abruptly stood up and started looking around for his phone and wallet.   
  
"Sorry about that, this one was surely talkative, she was really nice though-Hey where are you going?" Kise stood at the door, his chattering smile faltered as he looked at Aomine who now had his blue coat on and was zipping it up.   
  
"Home," Aomine said, "It's getting late."   
  
"It's barely seven, what late?"   
  
Aomine shrugged, his jaw set and his eyes almost landing on everything in the room that wasn't Kise as they both stood there across from eachother.   
  
"Aomineicchi?"   
  
"I have things to do at home," Aomine started to move towards the door, and paused again when he saw that Kise wasn't moving. He was forced to meet the blond's gaze, and he tried his best to give a normal gaze that came off way colder than he had noticed.   
  
Kise held his ground for a couple more seconds, searching for any signs of a reason in Aomine's eyes that could have prompted the sudden decision, and finding none.   
  
"Okay, text me later?"   


"I'll try," Aomine said, walking past Kise the minute the blond stepped aside to let him out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello ~ This chapter was fairly short, but I hope you enjoyed it. Thank you for reading!


	9. I Just Don't Get It

The next morning Kise woke up with heavy eyelids and a faint hint of an impending headache. He wasn't even entirely sure that he was awake when he rolled over and grabbed his phone off of the night stand, a pang of disappointment hitting him square in the gut when his eyes fell upon the screen.

An empty screen; with only the time and the background of a picture of him, Aomine and Kuroko that he had taken on the set of the Neon Night music video displayed.  

 With a drawn out sigh, he shifted to lay his head back against the pillow, holding the phone up so he could scroll through it freely. Getting up was the last thing he felt like doing at the moment, and he figured he could spend a couple more hours in bed.  
   
Aomine hadn't as much as sent him a single word since he walked out the night before, and Kise had spent the majority of the night flipping the scene over and over in his head like an overcooked pancake, but still being unable to make any sense of it.     
   
His twitter feed was the first thing to pop open on his screen and he began going through it, not even bothering to focus his eyesight to see the words as anything more than a blur.  
   
Maybe Aomineicchi was just tired, he thought. It could be possible, since they did have a full week of shooting and recording and the rapper usually got handed the most work since he was the one responsible for writing the lyrics. Maybe he really just wanted to get a good amount of sleep, that could be it.  
   
A few pictures that had loaded up on Ryouta's timeline caught his attention, and he rubbed at his eyes to re-focus his vision. It was a Celebrity Watch account, and they displayed a picture of Aomine walking into a gym that Kise knew was located a few blocks from his house. The caption read: _Critically acclaimed Rapper Aomine Daiki out for a late night work-out, 9:00 P.M. Sunday the 14 th._  
  
Kise stared at the photo a little bit longer than he intended, searching for any signs that would indicate this was an old one or a fake. However, it appeared authentic enough. Besides, Aomine was wearing the same clothes he had on when he left his place the night before.  
   
 _Tired people don't go to the gym._  
   
He tossed his phone aside and rolled over on his side, his face heating up with a tinge of anger. Why did it piss him off so much that Aomine lied to him about where he was going? It wasn't that he thought Aomine owed him an explanation or anything of that sort, but he could have atleast been straightforward about it and simply told Kise he didn't want to hang around.  
   
Because right now, that was the only reason the blond could think of as to why Aomine would just do that. If he only wanted to go to the gym, he would've just asked Kise to come along with him. No, he just didn't want to be around Kise.  
   
There was no other reason to it.  
   
The thought made Kise feel ten times worse than he had the moment he woke up. He closed his eyes, clenching and unclenching his fist in distress. Maybe it had been too early for him to get too hung up on Aomine when he knew next to nothing about the rapper's feelings or thoughts.  
   
Faint buzzing distracted him from his thoughts and he looked to his side, unable to avoid the small inclination of hope that flourished in his head at the idea that Aomine could have finally texted him.  
   
And it was gone as soon as it came when he looked at the screen, replaced with a sense of mild dread.  
   
FROM: AKASHICCHI  
 _Be at the main studio in 30 minutes._  
   
-  
   
The soft pitter-patter sound of rain droplets against the sidewalk was barely audible, but to Aomine Daiki in that moment; it felt like the loudest noise he could possibly ever hear. Granted, even a plastic cup falling on the floor would have gotten him riled up then. He pulled his hood further down over his face, adjusting the black cotton fabric of the mask he wore around his mouth and nose. The rapper despised having to wear those damn things to be able to walk down the street freely; it was like he might as well just slip a paper bag over his head.  
   
His method of waking up that morning re-surfaced in his memory, and he shoved his hands into his jackets' pockets a little too roughly. The call he woke up to wasn't the first one of its kind, but he certainly didn't need it on his plate at that time. His mother called him up to first nag about the fact that he hadn't been around for two months, to which he had replied sleepily that he was too caught up in work. Then she started lecturing him about sleeping too late into the afternoon, and if he had time to sleep that much then he had time to visit.  
   
Ofcourse, the conversation had to take an immediate turn to his mother's favorite subject of choice; his work. If you weren't in that immoral industry, you would have been a better son to your parents and cared more. If you had just taken up an honorable job like your father, this wouldn't have happened. What was it about music, anyways? You won't last too long in that career, you know it's not steady, and you can't possibly be all that serious about it. It doesn't matter if you have money now, that money won't last, and fame isn't everlasting either-  
   
At that point of the conversation, Aomine was too fucking tired and fed up to continue listening. His voice had gotten over its low sleepy tone, and taken on a tougher and much louder one.  
   
"You're one to talk _, mom_ . That money is the reason you're living in that big house that my father couldn't buy you with his honorable job, so maybe you should just shut up."  
   
He hung up right after, and the beeps that indicated the line went dead made him wince. His tone had been venomous at best, and he regretted the words the moment they were uttered. Still, he couldn't bring himself to call her or to apologize. Not right now, not when he still felt his blood boiling the way it was.  
   
And if that wasn’t enough, he had to get a text from Akashi telling him to meet up at the studio. He was already taking a walk to clear his head, and he wasn't too far from the building. But the thought of having to face anyone didn't sit well with him.  
   
He took the mask off as soon as he walked in, hoping that whatever Akashi had to say wouldn't take too long. The main studio wasn't too far away from the entrance and so it was a matter of minutes before Aomine stepped inside.  
   
Everyone was already there, gathered around the elevated area. They all seemed to be tuning or adjusting settings on their respective instruments, and Aomine raised an eyebrow.  
   
"What's going on here?"  
   
"Practice, and you're late," Akashi didn't look up from his keyboard.  
   
"What practice? We don't have practice today."  
   
"We do now," The red-haired band leader replied, "Extra practice."  
   
A few words of choice crossed the rapper's mind in response to Akashi's sudden decision, but he refrained from uttering any of them in favor of – well, in favor of staying alive in all honesty. He reached over for his mic and picked it up off of the stand, toying around with it in his hand then taking it over to the couch and slouching back with it in his grasp.  
   
Just then, the door's hinges produced a loud creak as it burst open.  
   
"Sorry I'm late! I ran into some traffic on the way and I couldn't get out of it, then I was recognized by a few girls on a school trip and I had to stop and take some pictures," Kise practically crashed through the door's frame, his cheeks a bright red color and his chest rising and falling a little too rapidly. All in all, he looked like he just ran a marathon.  
   
 _And he still looked like he ran straight out of a magazine page._  
  
"Take your place, Ryouta, we're behind schedule."  
   
Kise frowned, "Huh? Behind schedule for what, Akashicchi?"  
   
"We have a three-hour long practice today," Akashi's expression didn't change, but his tone grew impatient.  
   
"Oh, alright."    
   
For the next few moments, everyone busied themselves with taking their positions, save for Aomine who remained on the couch with the mic.  
   
 Akashi started off practice with a low-key melody, setting a tune for the rest to follow. Midorima, Kuroko, and Murasakibara began playing one after the other respectively; it was the way practice always started. Akashi would set a tempo, and the rest would go along with it without having anything specific in mind. It was a strategy, devised by Momoi, for the boys to keep their innate musical instinct sharp.  
   
Akashi indicated for Aomine to start simply by giving him one look out of his mis-matched eyes, and the rapper's mouth fell in with the beat. The flow was off by a micro-second in his mind, but he managed to slow his usual rapping speed slightly in order to keep up with the music and at the same time not mess up the words. It was to him as if a dictionary was scrambled up in his brain, and he had to pick the words up and manually piece them together one by one. His momentary setback went unnoticed by the rest of his bandmates who were consumed by their own instruments, but it didn't go unnoticed by Satsuki.  
   
The pink-haired manager was sitting in a chair in the back of the studio, observing them as they played and taking notes. She glanced at Aomine, but the rapper didn't notice as his gaze was solely fixed on Kise once his own verse was over. The blond had his hand wrapped around the stand and he stood with his eyes on the ground.  
   
Kise knew Aomine's songs by heart, so he picked up on the chorus straight away after Aomine had stopped rapping. However, Kise's lack of concentration on the music was much more obvious than Aomine's. His earlier breathlessness wasn't that much of a help either, and his voice broke uneven near the beginning of the chorus.  
   
Akashi lifted his fingers up off of the keyboard and so the music stopped. "What is it, Ryouta?"  
   
"Are you alright, Kise-kun?" Kuroko asked, stopping as well along with the rest of them.  
   
"It's nothing," the blond swallowed, offering a small smile, "I just-I lost my train of thought. I'm sorry, let's start again."  
   
Akashi nodded and the music was back. It still didn't fail to amaze Kise just how much in sync they all were. Off of the stage, their personalities almost clashed. Each one of them seemed to belong to a wholly different species. But once they were in the studio, they were a single mind controlling all the instruments simultaneously.    
   
He tried to focus on that single thought in order to regain his concentration, and closed his eyes as the song re-started from the beginning. It was like someone had pressed a replay button, since every single note followed the same exact pattern once more. Aomine repeated his first verse, this time his voice was a bit gruffer, though he didn't miss a single syllable.  
   
And now it was Kise's turn, and he was more than prepared to sing the 7-sentence chorus and get it right.  
   
Except that he didn't.  
   
Halfway through, he suddenly felt tongue-tied. The blond trailed off in the middle of a sentence, his voice fading in the same manner it would if someone simply turned down the volume on a track before turning it off completely and abruptly.  
   
The music stopped again, and Akashi flexed his fingers. "From the top, again."  
   
"We're never gonna finish at this rate," Aomine muttered intolerantly into the mic before turning it off with a click.  
   
"I'm sorry-" Kise started, but the rapper interrupted him.  
   
"Sorry doesn't exactly save time," Aomine didn't look at him when he talked, but he said the words through his teeth.  
   
"Dai-chan, we've only did two repeats, it's not exactly a waste of time-" Momoi tried to intercept, but Aomine shook his head.  
   
"No, fuck that, it's not my fault he can't get his shit together and sing properly for five seconds."  
   
Kise glanced at Aomine with his mouth agape, his eyebrows knitted together. He cleared his throat, "I'll get it right, just give me another chance, I'm just-"  
   
"You don't get another chance if we're standing infront of 10,000 people, Kise, you either know how to sing all the time, or you just fucking don't."  
   
The aggressiveness in Aomine's tone brought silence upon the entire studio. All eyes fell on the rapper, with various looks of curiosity, surprise and confusion.  
   
All of which mingled within Kise's golden orbs as he looked at Aomine, appalled.  
   
 _And hurt, though Aomine decided to pretend he didn't see that._  
   
He stepped off of the stage and walked past Aomine, opening the door and going outside without adding another word.    
   
"That was uncalled for, Daiki."  
   
"Dai-chan, you should go after him and apologize."  
   
Aomine returned to lying back down on the couch, once more pulling the hood of his jacket over his head. "I'm not going anywhere."  
   
"Dai-chan-"  
   
"Drop it, Satsuki."  
   
Momoi pursed her lips together and stood up, setting the notebook down on the chair before following in Kise's footsteps and leaving the room to find him.  
   
-  
   
2:30 A.M. flashed in big red letters on Aomine's alarm clock, and the bluenette tossed around in his bed. He sat on the edge, propping his elbows up on his thighs and running his hands through his hair as he let his head rest against his palms.  
   
Three hours in bed, and not even one single damn yawn. He didn't think he could have been this awake even if he had drunk five mugs of coffee right before heading to the bedroom.  
   
But here he was. And it was all because of his absolute stupidity when it came to talking to others.  
   
During the hours of the day, Aomine would never allow even his inner thoughts to admit to something as unspeakable as the fact that he had done something wrong. However, sleepless nights were a different story.  
   
When his fingers are wrapped around a mic, he knew just what to say, when to say it and how to say it. However, his conversational skills off of the stage and in the realm of his daily life were almost non-existent.  
   
And he didn't understand just how that worked. Only that it did, and that it usually made him more or less a bastard. He knew that. Aomine didn't have his head _that_ far up his own ass as to not recognize when he was acting like an asshole. It wasn't that he didn't know it; it was just that knowing it never made any difference.  
   
He still went on with it, because it was all that he's known. From the minute he'd started rapping all those years ago, he'd learned to speak the words that came to his mind as soon as they did. Sure, it has gotten him into a shitload of trouble, but he never really cared about that trouble.  
   
He never really cared about being an asshole.  
   
But that look.  
   
That blond and his damn looks. It was those large eyes, yeah, those fucking large hazel golden eyes that betrayed way too many emotions. They were like a window to Kise's mind, left wide open for Aomine to see straight into his thoughts.  
   
 _Which should have atleast made understanding him easier, but no, it didn't._  
   
Aomine flopped back against the bed and turned around to groan in defeat against the mattress. Since when did he start chasing around inconsistent thoughts in his mind as if he were chasing a basketball around a court? And since when did he start losing sleep over it?  
   
He rolled around and picked up his phone, swiping across the screen then placing it over his ear.  
   
One ring. Two. Three.  
   
"Hello?" A soft voice answered, followed by a low yawn.  
   
"Were you asleep?"  
   
"Mm-Little bit," a pause, "What time is it?"  
   
"2:45."  
   
"Is something the matter, Aomineicchi?" Kise's question was followed by another yawn.  
   
"My mom called this morning."  
   
Last week, when Aomine was staying over at Kise's house, they had stumbled upon an old bottle of wine Kise's parents had stored. They had popped it open and drank around half of it around midnight, and their conversation had coincidentally also revolved around their parents. Kise had gone into a lengthy discussion about his own family, talking about what they did for a living, and how he grew up. He mentioned their reactions when he had first become a member of Miragen, and that they threw a small party for him in the house that he really found unnecessary. Aomine had commented that he shouldn't complain about that; since his own parents didn't even let him stay in the house the night they found out he joined a band.  
   
It wasn't like he intended to let something like that slip out, but somehow he found himself talking to Kise about it. It was the first time he'd mentioned it to anyone, only Momoi knew about it and she only knew because he had to crash at her place that night. Still, Kise sat by and listened as Aomine told the story of that day and how his parents had been reacting to his music ever since, and he remembered being surprised by every word he let leave his mouth. And he could tell that the blond himself was surprised by the fact that Aomine was actually talking about his life, but he didn't let it show. He just let Aomine drone on for God knows how long, and Aomine just talked.  
   
Without thinking and without restraint, but most importantly, without feeling uncomfortable or pressured.  
   
"Aomineicchi? Are you still there?"  
   
"Hah-Yeah, did you say something?"  
   
"I asked if you were okay."  
   
Kise's eyes weren't the only transparent thing about him since Aomine could tell just from his tone that he was concerned, and it made something in his chest sting. How could he be worried about him after the way he had snapped at him this morning?  
   
Hell, Aomine didn't even expect him to pick up.  
   
"I'm fine, well, I am now anyways," Aomine absentmindedly scratched at his ear, "It was just on my mind today."  
   
"Do you wanna talk about it?"  
   
"Not really," Aomine breathed out a sigh, "Listen, I wanted to just tell you that, well, this morning I was stressed out."  
   
"It's okay, you don't need to worry about it," Kise replied, "Consider it forgotten."  
   
 _Why are you so genuinely understanding like that?_  
  
"Yeah, alright, just wanted you to know."  
   
"Thank you, Aomineicchi."  
   
 _Don't thank me, idiot, I didn't even say I was sorry._  
   
"Yeah, okay. Goodnight Kise."  
   
"Goodnight."  
   
Aomine was almost sure he _heard_ Kise's smile through the phone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my God, first of all, thank you all so much for your awesome feedback. Second, I'd like to apologize for any grammar/spelling errors because this is not beta'd, but I try my best to edit before posting. Third, I just really love writing about these two dorks and I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Thank you for reading!


	10. Media and miscommunication

Kise was in love.   
  
Even as a boy who had seen more than anyone's fair share of romantic dramas for a lifetime, he knew this was too fast. He knew this had to be too unrealistic, too reckless, too impossible, too every other negative adjective in the book. But all that held no meaning to him. Especially in moments like this.   
  
It was a chilly Sunday afternoon; the sun hung low in the sky concealed by an amount of clouds that took the edge off of its heat but let its rays shine upon the earth and through the glass wall of Aomine's suite apartment in the studio skyscraper. Kise was sitting on the living room's couch, and Aomine was lying over it with his head in Kise's lap. The blond had his fingers tangled up in Aomine's hair as he absentmindedly brushed the short blue locks. His other hand was closed around that of Aomine's; their fingers interlocked as Aomine ran his thumb over the back of Kise's palm.   
  
Feeling this way towards the rapper came to him as more of a surprise than the fact that he had become one of the most widely known singers nation-wide in the span of less than a year. It had nothing to do with confidence in his abilities, but fast success was more reasonable than falling in love in such a short amount of time. Yet, here he was. His days at work were spent in a haze of giddy thoughts about conversations he's had with Aomine, or conversations he could have, or days and moments they would spend together. His nights were spent  _with_ Aomine, and they were glorious.   
  
"I don't get it, why is she running?" Aomine's low, hoarse tone broke the silence between them and brought Kise back from the almost rainbow-chromatic land his mind had been engulfed in.   
  
"What-Why who is running?" Kise asked, glancing back at the plasma screen and the movie they had been watching for around an hour now.   
  
"The girl-" Aomine glanced up at Kise out of the corner of his eyes, then a smirk tugged at his lips. "You're not paying attention to the movie, are you?"   
  
"Yes, yes I am, she's running because-Because she wants to get somewhere?"   
  
Aomine shifted so that the back of his head was resting against Kise's thighs, still holding Kise's hand in his. "You're not, you were looking at me."   
  
"Don't get ahead of yourself," A faint blush crept onto Kise's cheeks and a small pout formed over his lips, he found himself glancing away towards the window. "I was just noting how the view was beautiful this morning."   
  
"Yeah, sure, the view," Aomine's smirk widened into a grin, and he lifted Kise's hand closer towards him so that he could plant a light kiss over Kise's wrist.   
  
Kise's blush darkened and he looked back at the azure blue eyes staring up at him, "I  _was_ looking at the view."   
  
"Whatever you say, blondie," Aomine propped himself up and stole a kiss, capturing the blond's soft pink lips with his own. Kise immediately melted into the sensation that brought warmth upon every inch of his skin, still having not gotten used to it despite the countless times that he had experienced it. It was if it were an entirely new feeling each time, with a renewed sense of excitement and anticipation and pure unprecedented joy.   
  
The truth was, feeling Aomine's touch in any way or form was similar to hearing a symphony of trumpets and drums resonate through his ears. It made him feel like he should sway around and sing in the loudest note he could possibly muster, but at the same time made him want nothing more than to stay so close to the rapper like this and never move again.   
  
"What are you thinking about?" Aomine asked as he pulled back, keeping his lips less two inches away from Kise's and keeping his eyes focused on the blond's golden large eyes.   
  
"I'm not thinking about anything," Kise replied, his prized voice failing him near the end of the sentence as he had to hold his breath in. Looking at Aomine from this angle allowed him to see each and every little detail about Aomine's face, and even if the rapper probably would never appreciate a comment like that, it was the most beautiful thing he had ever laid his eyes on.   
  
"Liar," Aomine let go of Kise's hand and ran his fingers up Kise's arm and over his shoulder, curling his fingers around the back of Kise's neck and pulling him in for yet another kiss.   
  
Kise wasn't sure how much more of this his poor heart could sustain before it up and decides to jump out of his chest and simply walk out on him.   
  
"Aomineicchi," Kise let out a soft shaky breath against Aomine's lips, his hand moving to rest over the right side of Aomine's waist.   
  
Just at that moment, the two cellphones discarded on the living room table buzzed at the same exact time. The boys paused, Aomine reluctantly letting Kise's lower lip go as he had been nipping on it. "What now?" he asked with a low groan, reaching out to get both of their phones.   
  
Kise took his own phone from Aomine's hold, still a little dazed. However, his daze evaporated when he read the notification that flashed across his screen.   
  
"My manager wants to see me in the lobby, she's saying it's urgent."   
  
"That's the same as what Satsuki just sent."   
  
-   
  
"What the hell is this, Kise-kun?!" Kise's manager stood up abruptly as soon as he walked into the lobby, practically shouting as she marched towards him with her iPad held up so he would look at the screen.   
  
There was a darkened picture of two figures standing in a balcony, one of them had his back against the railing with the other looking as if he was pressed against him, and they were kissing. Kise's blonde hair was bright against the dark background of the photo, and Aomine's blue strands and tanned skin weren't all that difficult to make out either.   
  
The blond's heart immediately raced in his chest as recognition of that night dawned over his face, he scrolled through almost frantically, seeing that this was posted all but 10 minutes ago on a blog journal with already over 700 thousand hits. He covered his mouth with his hand, shock and distress fighting to make an appearance in his wide eyes.   
  
Aomine snatched the iPad from his hand, and he cursed out loud as soon as he set his eyes on it. "What the fuck? Who took this? Who posted this?"   
  
"That is not the point, right now, Aomine-san!" Kise's manager appeared to grow angrier by the minute, her fair face flushed with a bright red and a vein clearly pulsating against her forehead. "When did this happen? How did this happen? Do you have any idea the kind of public uproar this is causing? Why was I not informed about this earlier? How long has this been happening?"   
  
"I'm-" Kise couldn't gather his thoughts properly in order to form even one response, and he simply shook his head. He hadn't discussed the possibility of anything going public with Aomine, because they had never actually discussed the prospect of a relationship. It just happened, they simply just fell into place together and that was that.   
  
"Dai-chan, Akashicchi just called from London, he's on a business trip but he told me that he doesn't want neither you nor Kise to answer publicly to any question. He said you're both to avoid both social and corporate media."   
  
"What? They can't avoid media, Kise has to release a statement to do damage control, there has already been a lot of speculation about his sexuality over the past couple of years."   
  
"Damage control?" Kise asked, confusion creeping onto his features and his tone as he leaned against the couch's arm, suddenly feeling a little dizzy. Ever since middle school, Kise had had some idea of what his orientation was. Surely, he had tried to be with a number of women here and there just to be sure, but he had it confirmed when he dated a boy for a few weeks in his second year of highschool. Since then, three years have passed and he had been with one or two more guys, but none of it was serious and none of it lasted more than two months. He kept it from everyone, including his family and his manager, as he wasn't yet prepared to come out. For that reason, he dated a few girls publicly in order to stifle the rumors about his sexuality, and refrained from discussing it in interviews and online.   
  
It wasn't that he had thought anything wrong with it, he knew there wasn't. However, he knew the kind of world he lived in and especially the kind of society he was a part of had the tendency to twist and alter truths, and to harass those who didn't conform to what made the majority comfortable. For those reasons, he decided to wait until his 21 st birthday before coming out, in order to give himself more time to prepare mentally and emotionally for what could happen. He had plans to come out to his family and friends first, then to slowly ease himself into telling his fans and the rest of the public.   
  
That was all before Aomine blasted into his life like an electronized beat through a hundred speakers in an oversized arena.   
  
When he was with Aomine, he never gave coming out or dealing with others a second thought. None of it mattered, much like nothing else mattered, when he was with the bluenette.   
  
"You need to release a statement explaining yourself to your fans, and informing them about this relationship. Maybe a press conference. We need to plan-"   
  
"What relationship?" Aomine was the one to speak out this time, interrupting Kise's manager. He put the iPad down on the table and gave her a look that plainly reflected his growing sense of annoyance. "What are you yelling on about? Akashi already said no public interaction."   
  
"You can't just refuse to speak to people, it's big news when two of the most important public figures in Japan come out as a homosexual couple-"   
  
"NO ONE is coming out as  _anything_ ," Aomine interrupted her once more, almost spitting out the words this time. The harshness of his tone caused Kise's manager to take a slight step back and fall silent.   
  
"There's nothing to talk about, there is no one coming out, and there's  _no_ relationship, now leave us the fuck alone," he continued, the aggression never fading from his voice.   
  
Kise glanced up at Aomine then, the thoughts tumbling in his mind crashing into a wall and coming to a stop. Before he had time to add anything, Aomine had already turned around and walked back towards the elevators, leaving the secluded lobby.     
  
-   
  
"You're an idiot. There's no other explanation for it."   
  
"Huh? What does that have to do with anything?" Aomine was sitting on a kitchen counter in Momoi's apartment, the next day after they had met with Kise's manager in the lobby.   
  
"He's not answering your calls because you're an idiot. You could have handled the situation differently," Momoi scolded, pouring coffee for the both of them in mugs that rested on the counter near Aomine.   
  
"I only told that chic to fuck off, that's all, she was yelling too much."   
  
"She's his manager; she was concerned about his career. I can understand where she's coming from, albeit her approach is wrong."   
  
"It's not her business to decide what Kise says or doesn't say to anyone. And it's not her business what Kise and I do on our own time. It's no one's business, actually."   
  
"What is it that you and Kise do on your own time, Dai-chan?" Momoi looked up at Aomine, holding the mug up as she took a sip from it.   
  
Aomine paused, then pursed his lips together. This question had been on his mind ever since he walked out of the lobby, and it had hit him like one of those countless gut punches he got whenever he fought as a kid growing up. Except when he was a child, the answer to a gut punch was a shin kick, and right now that was a move he forgot how to make. He didn't stop to think of actually talking to Kise about anything they had been doing, because he didn't think that he needed to. He enjoyed being around Kise, and he knew Kise enjoyed being around him as well. There was nothing more to it, right? Well, apparently, according to Momoi – wrong.   
  
"I don't know, Satsuki, I don't know," he sighed in exasperation, sipping on his own coffee mug then setting it down with a low thud.   
  
"You can't not know, you've been spending almost everyday with him for so long now, and apparently stuff happens," Momoi shook her head, "You can't just keep stringing him along like this."   
  
"I'm not gonna discuss that stuff with you, just so you know," he replied, "And I'm not stringing him along anything. I never told him anything."   
  
"That's the problem. You are stringing him along but you're not telling him anything, so basically you're just playing around."   
  
"I'm not playing around, I care about him!" Aomine snapped, then jumped off of the counter and walked over towards the window.   
  
"Then why aren't you telling him that?"   
  
"Because I haven't thought about it," He lowered his tone again, staring outside at the skyline of the city, "This is all being thrown at me out of nowhere. I didn't even think about coming out and all that stuff. I didn't even know that I needed to come out, or to define myself as some sort of sexuality or the other, or to even talk about relationships."   
  
"Why are you hung up on the public aspect of this? Akashi will deal with publicity like he always does, just lay low for a few days till he has everything figured out," Momoi sighed, finishing her coffee. "You keep trying to change the subject and make this about media, it's not. I don't care what the media is expecting from you, I care about what Kise should be expecting from you. And that's answers. So you and he need to sit and talk and figure out what you are and where you're going."   
  
"That last sentence is straight out of a movie Kise made me watch yesterday."   
  
"Dai-chan. Focus."   
  
"Right, okay. He just replied saying that he's caught up in work and so he's busy today." Aomine frowned as he read off of the screen of his phone, and then shoved it in his pocket.   
  
"Then go wait for him."   
  
"Wait for him where?"   
  
"By his house, he's bound to come home at some point."   
  
"What? I don't have time to do a stake out."   
  
"It's not a stake out, it's a gesture," Momoi folded her arms across her chest, "You're hopeless."   
  
"I hate you sometimes, Satsuki," Aomine said as he grabbed his wallet off of the counter along with his car keys.   
  
"I know. But I always have your best interest, and you know that."   
  
"Yeah, alright, I'll call you later."   
  
"Good luck, Dai-chan!"   
  
-   
  
Aomine leaned his forehead against the stirring wheel, muttering a few profanities under his breath as he closed his eyes for a moment. This was definitely not a good idea. Why did he listen to Satsuki again? Why does he always end up listening to her? He cursed himself mentally for it. It had been around 30 minutes now, and Kise still hadn't shown up. Aomine was parked beneath the shade of a few trees on the other side of Kise's street, and he was running out of patience.   
  
He turned off the AC and rolled down the windows to get some fresh air, leaning his arm against the window sill and glancing outside. Just then, he spotted a figure turning a corner and walking down the street. He instantly recognized Kise, and was about to get out of the car when he noticed that Kise wasn't alone. Right beside him was Kagami, carrying a few bags and walking at a slightly slow pace. Kise was engaged in a heated discussion, and Aomine could tell that from the way he talked. When Kise was excited about something, he'd wave his hands around and create visual emphasis with his fingers to go along with his words.   
  
And that was exactly what was happening now. Along with a plastered wide grin and a distracted look on Kise's face as he glanced up whilst walking.   
  
They made their way towards Kise's house, and the latter took out his keys and let Kagami in before walking in after him. Lucky for Aomine, they hadn't noticed him.   
  
Unlucky for Aomine, he definitely had noticed them, and he was fuming. No, fuming was an understatement. He knew this was a ridiculous idea, he knew he should have never fucking listened to Satsuki's plans. He knew he should have never allowed himself to think about possibilities and what ifs and answers and stupid, annoying questions.   
  
He put the car into drive, and pressed down on the pedal with all his might, causing his BMW to shoot forward in a quick blur down the street. Without even putting any thought into it, he made a turn, eager to get as far away from Kise's house as possible.   
  
Aomine wasn't one to feel things like this. Aomine wasn't one to get hung up on someone. Aomine wasn't one to care who did what with who. Aomine wasn't one to give a shit about people. That was his thing, that was his M.O.; that was what he was all about.   
  
But then Kise walks into his life and changes all that in a rapid flash and he's supposed to deal with it? And when he decides to deal with it, Kise avoids him and goes off with Kagami? Kise lies to him about what he's up to? And he cares?   
  
And if that wasn't enough, the whole damn country is also expecting an answer about it.   
  
When did this become his life? He never signed up for any of this.   
  
Aomine stopped the car a few streets away from Kise's house, parking in a hidden spot before getting out. Some part of him, deep down, knew that he shouldn't be here. That he could just turn back and go home, go talk to Momoi. But his legs paid no attention to that part and he continued walking on towards a back alley that was shut off by a wall of barbered interlocked wiring. It was a piece of cake for him to climb over it, since he had done that a million times before.   
  
He didn't care if he was seen; he didn't even care enough to pull his hood up. Once he crossed the alley, he was walking through a block of unmaintained buildings and warehouses. The streets were damp with puddles of water here and there, and the area was relatively empty save for a few kids running around near a building's entrance.   
  
Such a gracious home-coming, he thought to himself as he walked through the streets on which he was raised. He made his way towards an abandoned storage building – or rather a storage building that appeared abandoned.   
  
There was an old Chevrolet parked infront of the storage building, and upon its hood sat a black-haired male with glasses. He looked up as Aomine approached, surprise passing over his features before he grinned.   
  
"If it isn't Japan's number one diva, what are you doing off your record label throne?"   
  
"Imayoshi-senpai," Aomine returned the supposed greeting, refraining from providing a reply for the time being.   
  
"Yo, Wakamatsu," Imayoshi leaned his head back, glancing towards the storage entrance and calling out, "Check out who's finally come to visit."   
  
A large, well-built guy with dark blonde hair walked through the door, "Oh, Aomine, you decided to grace us commoners with your presence? I'm flattered."   
  
"Is there a battle ongoing tonight?"   
  
Imayoshi raised an eyebrow, "A battle? Why? If you're looking for front row tickets, we don't do that here."   
  
"I want in."   
  
"You're signed, it won't count."   
  
"I don't want it to count, I just want to rap down at the Cage again."   
  
"There could be consequences for this, you're too pampered now to go underground," Wakamatsu interjected.   
  
"I can still take anyone on, and you know that," Aomine shot back, feeling aggravated and growing impatient. "Are you gonna sign me up or not?"   
  
"Fine. But whatever happens, it's on you," Imayoshi said, then grinned again, "That being said, welcome back, Aomine."   


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, sorry for the late update, it's been hectic with work lately. Thank you all for your feedback, all kinds of it are always appreciated and you guys are just so awesome for continuing to read this. I hope you liked the chapter, and have a great day!


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